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REVISED AISTD EJsT JL, ARGUED. 

A POPULAR HISTORY 

OK THE 

United States of America, 

FROM 

THE ABORIGINAL TIMES 

TO 

THE PRESENT DAY. 

EMBRACING 

AN ACCOUNT OP TnE ABORIGINES; THE NORSEMEN IN THE NEW WORLD; THB 
DISCOVEKIES BY THE SPANIARDS, ENOLJSH, AND FRENCH; THE PLANTING 
OF SETTLEMENTS; THE GROWTH OF THE COLONIES; THE STRUGGLE 
FOR LIBERTY IN THE REVOLUTION; THE ESTABLISHMENT 
OF THE union; THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION; 
THE CIVIL WAR; THE CENTENNIAL OF INDE- 
PENDENCE ; AND THE RECENT AKNALS 
OP THE REPUBLIC. 

THE ^A^HOLE BROUGHT DOWN TO THE YEAR 1889. 



JOHN CLARK RIDPATH, LL.D., 

Author of Ridi-ath's School Histories of the United States, and a Cyclopedia of 
Universal Historv. 



Illuslrateb faitlj Paps, €lmis, |ortraits, aiib f iagrams. 



'"RIGHT '%. 

OCT 6 1889; 



NEW YORK: 

80S BROADWAY. 

1889. 

-rill. 



h- lis 



Copyright, 1889, by 
New York. 



PREFACE. 



Deae People of the United States: — 

By this, ray Preface, I offer to you a New History of your coun- 
try — and miue. The work is presented in the form of an abridged 
narrative. My reasons for such a venture are brief, but, I trust, sat- 
isfactory : 

First, to every American citizen some knowledge of the history of 
his country is indispensable. The attainment of that knowledge ought 
to be made easy and delightful. 

Second, the Centennial of the Republic furnishes an auspicious oc- 
casion for the study of those great events which compose the warp 
and woof of the new civilization in the West. 

This book is intended for the avei'age American ; for the man 
of business who has neither time nor disposition to plod through ten 
or twenty volumes of elaborate historical dissertation ; for the prac- 
tical man of the shop, the counter, and the plow. The work is, 
dedicated to the household and the library of the working man. It is in- 
scribed to the father, the mother, the son, and the daughter of the 
American family. If father, mother, son, and daughter shall love 
their country better — if they shall understand more clearly and a])- 
preciate more fully the founding, progress, and growth of liberty in 

the New World — the author will be abundantly repaid. 

(iiii 



iv PREFACE. 

In the preparation of the work the following objects have been 
kept in view: 

I. To give an accurate and spirited Narrative of the principal 
events in our National history from the aboriginal times to the pres- 

■iit day. 

II. To discuss the Philosophy of that history as fully as possible 
within the narrow limits of the work. 

III. To avoid all Partiality, Partisanship, and Prejudice, as 
things dangerous, baneful, and wicked. 

IV. To preserve a clear and systematic Arrangement of the sev- 
eral subjects, giving to every fact, whether of peace or war, its true 
place and importance in the narrative. 

V. To give an Objective Representation by means of charts, 
maps, drawings, and diagrams, of all the more important matters in 
the history of the nation. 

VI. To secure a Style and Method in the book itself which 
shall be in keeping with the spirit and refinement of the times. 

Whether these important ends have been attained, dear People, 
it is not my province but yours to decide. I have labored earnestly 
to reach the ideal of such a work, and if success has not rewarded 
the effort, the failure has been in the execution rather than in the 
plan and purpose. 

I surrender the book, thus undertaken and completed, to You — 
for whom it was intended. With diffidence I ask a considerate judg- 
ment and just recognition of whatever worth the work may be found 
to possess. 

J. C. R. 

Indiana Asbury TlNrvERSixy, 
J.inuary 1, 1883. 



} 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

What constitutes a period in history. — The period of the Aborigines. — The second 
period in the history of the United States. — E.xtends from the discovery of the conti- 
nent to the establisliment of permanent settlements. — Tlie third period. — Reaches from 
the first colonies to the war of the Revolution. — The fourth period. — Embraces the 
Revolution and the consolidation of the government. — The fifth period is most im- 
portant. — Extends from the adoption of the Constitution to the present time. — The 
names and dates of the several periods 39, 40. 



PART I. 
ABORIGINAL AMERICA. 



CH.^PTER I. 

THE BED MEN — ORIGIN, DISTRIBUTION, CHARACTER. 

The Indians. — Their name accounted for. — Differences between them and the 
Asiatics. — The origin of the Indian races unknown. — Theories controverted. — The 
question likely to remain unsolved. — Language may give us light. — The Red men Gan- 
owanians. — Habits of that race. — Divisions of the aboriginal nations.--The Esqui- 
maux. — Their manner of life. — The race of Algonquins. — Their distribution. — And 
character. — The Huron-Iroquois. — Their domain. — Nature of their confederation. — 
Their influence and character. — The Southern races. — Cherokees. — Mobilians. — Man- 
ners and characteristics. — The Dakotas. — Their limits. — The Oomanches. — The na- 
tions beyond the Mountains. — Sboshonees. — Selish. — Klamaths. — Californians. — Aztecs 
and Toltecs of old. — The Indian character in general. — Sense of personal inde- 
pendence. — Passion for war. — Principles of war. — And of peace. — The Indian unsocial 
and solitary. — His family organization. — The European family. — Diagram thereof. — 
Indian method. — And diagram. — Aboriginal government. — Powers and limitations. — 
Native religion. — Beliefs of the Red men. — Their arts. — Rudeness of the same. — The 
Indian house. — Utensils. — Weapons. — Clothing. — Decorations. — Paint. — And writing. — • 
The savage tongues. — Peculiarities of Indian speech. — Personal appearance of the 
aborigines. — Stature. — Features. — Bodily habit. — Indian amusements. — The dance. — 
Other sports. — Gaming. — The use of tobacco. — Strong drinks. — Indian prospects. — ■ 
Reflections 41-50, 



VI 



CONTENTS. 

PART II. 

VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 

A. I>. 986—1607. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE ICELANDERS AND NORWEGIANS IN AMERICA. 

Herjulfson is driven by a storm to the American coast. — Lief Erickson discovers 
America. — Thorwald and Tliorstein Erickson make voyages. — Tliorfinn Karlsefne ex- 
plores tlie shores of Maine and Massachusetts. — Other voyages are made by the Norse- 
men. — The name of Vinland. — Character of the .sea-kings. — Voyages in the following 
centuries. — No practical results from the Icelandic discoveries. — Their authenticity.— 
Note 51-54. 

CHAPTER 111. 

SPANISH DISCOVERIES. 

Spain makes the New World known to Europe. — Old ideas about the figure of tlie 
earth. — Columbus. — Sketch of his life. — The favor of Isabella. — Columbus departs on 
his first voyage. — Discovers San Salvador, Cuba, and llayti. — Second voyage of Co- 
lumljus. — Third. — He discovers South America. — Fourth voyage. — Columbus's misfort- 
unes and death. — Wrong done to his memory. — Vespucci makes two voyages to South 
America. — Excitement in Europe on account of discoveries. — Colony planted on the 
Isthmus. — Balboa discovers the Pacific. — Ponce de Leon makes explorations in Flor- 
ida. — Is killed in a fight with the Indians 54-58. 

CHAPTER IV. 

SPANISH DISCOVERIE.S — CONTINUED. 

Cordova discovers Yucatan. — Grijalvaexplores Mexico. — Cortez lands at Tabasco. — 
Terror pervades the country. — The natives are beaten back. — Cortez proceeds to Vera 
Cruz. — Montezuma ."ends embassies and presents. — The Spaniards march towards tlie 
capital. — And are forbidden to approach. — The Mexican tribes revolt. — Cortez reaohes 
the city. — And enters. — His critical situation. — He seizes Montezuma. — Who acknowl- 
edges the king of Spain. — The governor of Cuba sends forces against Cortez. — He over- 
powers them. — Returns to tlie capital.— The struggle fur possession of the city. — Mon- 
tezuma is wounded. — And dies. — Tlie Spaniards are victorious. — Mexico becomes a 
Spani.sh province. — Magellan sails around South America. — Crosses the Pacific. — If 
killed at the Philippines. — His crew reach the East Indies. — Double the Cape of 
Good Hope. — Return to Europe. — De Narvaez is appointed governor of Florida. — Ex- 
plores the country around the Gulf. — The company embark in boats, and are wrecked. — 
Four men reach San Miguel. — De Soto sets out on an expedition to explore and con- 
quer Florida. — Arrives at Tampa Bay. — Marches into the interior. — Spends the winter 
on Flint River. — The company march into South Carolina. — Cross into Georgia. — Capt- 
ure Manville. — Spend the next winter on the Yazoo. — Discover the Mississippi. — Ex- 
plore Arkansas and return to the Mississippi. — De Soto dies. — His men again march 
we.stward to the mountains. — Return to tlie mouth of Red River. — Build boats and 
descend the Mississippi. — Reach the Spanish settlements in Mexico. — Melendez conies 



CONTENTS. vii 

to Florida, and founds St. Augustine. — Murders the Huguenots on the St. .John's.— 
Massacres the crews of the French vessels. — Extent of the Spanish explorations. — The 
Portuguese voyage of Gaspar Cortereal. — He sells a cargo of Indian slaves in Portu- 
gal 61-69- • 

CHAPTER V. 

THE FRENCH IN AMERICA. 

First acquaintance of the French with America. — Verrazzani is .sent out to make eX- 
plorations. — Arrives on the coast of North Carolina. —Explores the shores of the country 
as far north as Newfoundland. — Cartier is sent on a voyage to America. — Reaches 
Newfoundland and enters the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence. — Returns to Europe. — 
Sails on a second expedition. — Ascends the St. Lawrence to Montreal. — His crew are 
attacked with scurvy. — He passes the winter near the site of Quebec. — And returns to 
France. — Roberval undertakes to colonize the country. — Cartier joined to the under- 
taking. — -Prisons of France are opened to furnish emigrants. — Expedition reaches the 
St. Lawrence. — The leaders quaiTel, and Cartier goes back to France. — The whole 
colony returns. — Roberval sails with another fleet. — And is lost at sea. — Ribault con- 
ducts a band of Huguenots to Port Royal. — Builds Fort Carolina. — The settlement is 
abandoned. — The enterprise renewed by Laudonniere. — A Huguenot colony estab- 
lished on the St. .John's River. — But destroyed by Melendez. — De Gourges takes venge- 
ance on the Spaniards. — La Roche is commissioned to plant colonies in America. — 
French prisons again opened. — .\ settlement is made on Sable Island. — The company 
rescued and carried to France. — De Monts made viceroy of New France. — Departs with 
a colony. — Reaches the Bay of Fundy. — Port Royal founded by Poutrinconrt, and the 
St. Croix settlement by De Monts. — The country named Acadia. — Charaplain receives 
a commission. — Sails with a colony to the St. Lawrence. — Goes against the Iroquois. — • 
Returns and founds Quebec 70-76. 

CHAPTER VI. 

ENGLISH DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS. 

Henry VII. commissions .Tolin Cabot. — Who discovers North America. — Is re- 
commissioned. — Sebastian takes charge of the expedition. — Explores the Atnerican 
coast from Labrador to Cape Hatteras. — Leaves England to become pilot of Spain. — 
The notable year 1498. — Causes which impeded English discovery. — Maritime enter- 
prise revives under Elizabeth. — Frobisher sails to America and discovers Meta Incog- 
nita. — Takes spurious ore to London. — A new voyage is planned. — Frobisher conducts 
a fleet to Meta Incognita. — The expedition proves a failure. — Sir Francis Drake cap- 
tures Spanish merchantmen. — Goes to the Pacific coast. — Attempts the discovery of a 
north-west passage. — Gilbert forms a plan of colonization. — Is assisted bv Raleigh. — 
Conducts a fleet to Newfoundland.- -The crews find spurious minerals. — The voyage is 
continued to Massachusetts. — Gilbert loses his best ship and a hundred men. — Starts 
home, and is lost at sea — Raleigh .sends Amidas and Barlow with a colony. — Tliey 
reach Roanoke Island and begin a settlement. — The place is abandoned. — Raleigh 
sends a second colony under Lane. — The colonists reach Roanoke and begin to build. — 
Difficulties arise with the Indians. — The settlement is broken up. — The colony taken 
home by Drake. — .\ new charter granted by Raleigh, and White chosen governor. — 
The new emigrants arrive at Roanoke. — The foundations of a town laid on the Island.^ 
Troubles with the Indians. — Manteo is made a peer. — White returns to England. — Birth 
of Virginia Dare. — The fate of the colony never ascert.ained. — Condition of affairs ir 
England. — White returns, and finds Roanoke deserted. — Raleigh assigns his patent it 



viii CONTENTS. 

XoiKion merchants. — Gosnold makes a voyage directly across the Atlantic. — Attempts 
to form a settlement on Elizabeth Island. — The place is abandoned. — Gosnold trades 
witli the natives. — The crew demand to return. — Flattering accounts are given of the 
country. — An expedition is sent out under Pring. — He explores a part of the New 
England coast, and returns to Bristol. — Waymouth sails on a voyage. — Trades with 
the Indians of Maine.— Returns lo England 76-85k 

CHAPTER VII. 

ENGLISH DISCOVERIES AUD SETTLEMENTS. — CONTINUED. 

King James issues patents to the London and Plymouth Companies. — Tlie London 
Company to plant colonies between the 34th and the 38th parallels. — The Plymouth Com- 
pany to make settlements from the 41st to tlie 45th degree. — Gosnold, Smith, Hakluyt 
and Wingfield lead the afl'airs of the Southern Company. — No democratic principles 
are recognized in tlie charter. — X ship is sent out by the Plymouth Comjiany. — A 
second vessel is dispatched to America. — A settlement is attempted at the mouth of the 
Kennebec. — Is abandoned in tl>e .summer of 1608. — A fleet with a colony is sent out by 
the London Company. — Newport commands. — They arrive in the Chesapeake. — Enter 
James River. — Make a' landing and lay the foundations of Jamestown. — Tlie affairs of 
the Plymouth Company are revived by Smith. — He explores and maps the coast of 
Maine and Massachusetts. — Several attempts are made to form a colony in New Eng- 
land. — The Plymouth Company is superseded by the Council of Plymouth. — A new 
plan of colonization is made, and Smitli appointed admiral. — Tlie Puritans ari.se in the 
North of England. — They remove to Amsterdam and Leyden. — Determine to remove to 
America. — Ask permission of the king and the Council of Plymouth. — Meet with dis- 
couragements. — Procure two vessels at their own expense. — Sail from Leyden, and after- 
ward from Southampton. — The Speedwell is found unfit for the voyage, and the Pilgrims 
depart in the Mayflower. — The Pilgrims have a stormy voyage. — Come in sight of Cape 
Cod. — They make a frame of government. — Carver is elected governor. — The landing 
Is delayed by oad weather. — The ship is driven by storms. — Enters Plymoutli harbor.^ 
The Puritans go ashore on the 11th of December. — Begin to build. — Are attacked with 
diseases. — Mary of the colony die. — An early spring brings them relief. . 85-91. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

VOYAGES AND SETTLEMENTS OF THE DUTCH. 

Dutch settle i-^nts in America result from the voyages of Hudson. — He is employed 
by London merchants to reach the Indies. — Sails into the North Atlantic. — Fails in his 
effort. — Is sent on a .second voyage. — And fails. — Goes into the service of the Dutch East 
India Company. — Sails on a third voyage. — Is driven back by tlie icebergs. — Turns to 
America. — Reaches Newfoundland. — Sails southward to the Chesapeake. — Then north- 
ward to New York harbor. — Discovers the Hudson River. — Explores that stream as far 
as Albany. — Returns to Dartmouth. — Is detained by the English government. — Issenton 
a fourth expedition. — Discovers Hudson Strait and Bay. — Is overtaken by winter. — The 
crew mutiny. — Hudson is cast ofl" among the icebergs. — Dutch vessels begin to trade at 
the mouth of the Hudson. — The states-genera! grant a right to trade. — h. settlement is 
made on Manhattan Island. — Block explores Lonf^ Island Sound. — Christianson builds 
Fort Nassau. — May explores the coast of New Jersey. — Holland claims the country 
from Delaware Bay to Cape Cod 92-94 



CONTENTS. \x 



PART III. 

COLONIAL HISTORY. 

A. ». 1607—1776. 



PARENT COLONIES. 



CHAPTEK IX. 

VIRGINIA. — THE FIRST CHARTER. 

The progress of Virginia is hindered. — First settlers are of bad character. — Necessity 
drives them to labor. — The king gives sealed instructions. — Smith is arrested. — And ex- 
cluded from the council. — He and Newport explore the James. — Return to Jamestown. 
— Newport goes to England. — The colonists are discouraged. — Disease ravages the settle- 
ment. — (josnold dies. — Wingfield embezzles the funds. — And is removed from office. — 
Eatcliffe succeeds. — And is also impeached. — Smith takes control of tlie colony. — Sketch 
of his life. — The settlement flourishes under his care. — He explores the country, and pro- 
cures supplies. — The Indians furnish provisions. — Smith explores the Chickahominy. — 
Is captured by the Indians. — Saves his life by stratagem. — Is carried to Orapax. — Thence 
to Panninkey. — Is condemned to death. — And saved by Pocahontas. — He remains in 
Powhatan's household. — Is liberated. — Returns to Jamestown. — Terrifies the savages.— 
Deplorable condition of the settlement. — Plot to abandon the place. — Newport arrives 
with new immigrants. — Who are as bad as the others. — The gold-hunters go abroad.— 
And find mica in the sand of James River. — .\ ship is loaded with dirt and sent to Eng- 
land. — The planting season goes by. — Smith makes his great exploration of the Ches.i- 
peiike. — And maps the country. — Returns. — Is elected president. — Newport arrives with 
more immigrants and supplies. — Progress of the colony. .... 9.5-104. 

CHAPTER X. 

VIRGINIA. — THE .SECOND CHARTER. 

King James grants a new charter. — Changes are made in the form of government. — A 
new council is organized. — Delaware is chosen governor. — The other officers. — A fleet 
with five hundred emigrants sails for America. — Encounters a storm. — Two vessels are 
wrecked. — Seven ships reach Jamestown. — The commissioners are left on the Bermuda 
Islands. — Smith retains the presidency. — New settlements are projected. — Smith is 
wounded. — Delegates his authority to Percy. — Returns to England. — Colony sufiers after 
his departure. — The starving time. — Gates and his companions reach Virginia. — The 
settlement is abandoned. — Delaware meets the colony. — And persuades them to return. — 
Prosperity begins. — But Delaware falls sick. — And returns to England. — Percy is deputy. 
— Dale arrives as governor. — Brings immigrants. — Writes for supplies and new colo- 
nists. — Wlio arrive. — The colony improves. — Gates is made governor. — The right of 
private properly is recognized. — And the settlements enlarged. . . . 104-107 



, CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XI. 

VIKGINIA. — THE THIRD CHARTER. 

The London Company receive a third patent. — The colony had proved unprofitahle. 
■ — Ar^ali kidnaps Pocaliontas. — Who is married to Rolfe. — They visit England. — And 
leave descendants in Virginia. — Argall destroys the French settlements in Acadia.— 
And reduces tlie Dutch colony of Manhattan. — Dale becomes governor of Virginia.- 
Tobacco is the staple of Jamestown. — And is used for money. — Argall is chosen gov 
ernor. — Delaware sails for America. — And dies. — Yeardley supersedes Argall. — Abolishes 
martial law. — Establishes the House of Enrges,ses.— Slavery is introduced. — Society is 
low. — Women are sent over. — And married to the colonists. — A constitution is granted. 
— Wvatt becomes governor. — Settlements spread abroad. — The Indians become jealous 
— And massacre the people. — But are defeated. — The company is opposed by the king.^ 
A commission is appointed. — Who report against the company. — And its charter is re- 
voked. — But liberty is planted in Virginia 108-113 

CHAPTER XII. 

VIKtilNIA. — THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT. 

Royal government is established. — But the administration is unchanged. — Charles I. 
becomes king. — Recognizes the Virginia Assembly. — Yeardley is re-elected governor.— 
Dies, — West is chosen by the council. — Harvey arrives from England. — Land-grants vex 
the people. — Harvey is impeached. — But is sustained by the king. — Wyatt succeeds.— 
English Revolution breaks out. — King Charles is beheaded. — Monarchy is abolished. — 
Cromwell becomes Protector. — Virginia inclines to royalty. — Berkeley becomes gov- 
ernor. — The Puritans are persecuted. — .\n Indian war arises. — The savages are beaten. 
— Virginia refuses to acknowledge Parliament. — Cromwell restricts her commerce.^ 
Sends a fleet to America. — And the Virginians submit. — Favorable terms are granted 
— Peace continues during the commonwealth. — The Burgesses elect three governors. — 
Berkeley is thus chosen. — Accepts. — Bnt at the Restoration renounces his .acceptance. 
— And issues writs in the king's name. — Tyranny follows. — Commerce is restricted. — 
The Virginians complain. — In vain. — Charles II. gives away Virginia lands. — And 
finally the whole State to Arlington and Culpepper. — The Quakers and the Baptists are 
persecuted. — Ta.-ses are odious.— The people rebel. — An Indian war is the e.Tcnse. — 
And Berkeley's tyranny the cause. — Bacon heads the insurrection. — The Indians are 
punished. — Berkeley abdicates. — Returns. — Captures Jamestown. — Bacon takes the 
place, and burns it. — Dies. — The patriots are dispersed.— And the leaders hanged. — 
A worse despotism is established.— Culpepper becomes governor. — Treats Virginia as 
an estate. — Arlington surrenders his claim. — The king recalls the grant. — And Vir- 
ginia becomes a royal province. — Howard and Nicholson administer the government.— 
AVilliam and Marv College founded. — Andros becomes governor.— Future history of Vir- 
ginia . . ' . \ 114-123 

CHAPTER XIII. 

MASSACHUSETTS. — SETTLEMENT. 

The Pilgrims are saved by the coming of spring. — Health is restored. — Miles Stan- 
dish is sent out to reconnoitre. — Samoset and Squanto come to Plymouth. — X treaty is 
made with Massasoit. — Other tribes acknowledge the sovereignty of England. — Canon- 
icus is overawed. — ,\n unfruitful summer. — Immigrants arive. — Are quartered on the 
colony. — The Pilgrims are destitute. — The new-comers found Weymouth. — The Indi- 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



ans plan a massacre. — And are punished by Standish. — Weymouth is abandoned. — A 
plentiful harvest. — Robinson remains at Leyden. — Tlie colonial enterprise proves un- 
profitable. — The managers sell out to the colonist.s. — The Established Church is fa- 
vored.— Salem is founded. — The Company of Mas.sachu8etts Bay is cliartered by the 
king and the council. — Boston is founded. — The government is transferred to America. 
— A large immigration in 1630. — Wintlirop is governor. — Cambridge is founded. — 
W;itertown. — Eoxbury. — Dorchester. — The colony suffers greatly. — Suffrage is restricted. 
— Williams protects. — And is banished. — Goes among the Indians. — Is kindly received. 
— Tarries at Seekonk. — Kemoves. — And founds Providence. — A representative govern- 
ment is established. — The ballot-box is introduced. — Three thousand immigrants ar- 
rive. — Vane and Peters are the leaders. — Concord is founded. — Colonies remove to the 
Connecticut. — Religious controversies. — Mrs. Hutchinson is banished. — She and her 
friends establish a republic on Rhode Island. — Harvard College is founded at Cam- 
bridge. — A printing-press is .set up. — Eliot, Welde, and Mather translate the Psalms.— 
Liberty flourishes in Massachusetts. — Emigration is hindered by England. 123-133 

CHAPTER XIV. 

MASSACHCSETTS. — THE UNION. 

Progress of New England. — Circumstances favor a union of the colonies. — Massa- 
chusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven are confederated. — No other colonies 
are admitted. — A Body of Liberties is formed. — Tlie two legislative branches are sepa- 
rated. — The English Revolution is favorable to New England. — Vane and others de- 
fend the rights of the colonies. — The Parliament demands the charter of Massachusetts. 
— Which is refused. — Cromwell the friend of Ma.ssacbu.setts. — Maine is annexed. — 
Early settlements in Maine. — The Quakers arrive at Boston. — Are per.seculed and ban- 
ished. — The death-penalty is passed against them. — Four persons are executed. — Reac- 
tion against the law. — And the law is abolished. — News of the Restoration reaches 
Boston. — Whalley and Goffe arrive. — And escape to Connecticut. — Vane and Peters are 
executed. — The Navigation Act is passed. — Its bearing on the commerce of New Eng- 
land. — War between England and Holland. — Charles II. attempts to subvert the colo- 
nial cliarters. — Commissioners are sent to Ma.ssachusett3. — Are met with resistance. — 
And defeated in their objects. — The colony prospers. .... 133-139. 

CHAPTER XV. 

MASSACHUSETTS. — KINO PHIMP's WAK. 

Philip becomes king of the Wampanoags. — Causes of jealousy and war. — Alexan- 
der's imprisonment. — Outrages are committed. — The war begins. — Swanzey is attacked. 
— Philip is pursued to Mount Hope. — Escapes to Tiverton. — Is driven from the Narra- 
gansett country. — Goes to the Nipniucks. — A general war ensues. — The Narragansetts 
ai-e obliged to remain neutral. — English ambassadors are nias.sacred at Brookfield. — The 
town is attacked. — Rescued. — Abandoned. — Burned. — Deerfield is partiv destroyed. — 
Lathrop attempts to bring off the harvests. — Is ambushed at Bloody Brook. — The battle. 
— Hadley is attacked. — Rescued by Gofl^e. — Springfield is assaulted. — And destroyed. 
— Hadley is burned. — The savages are defeated at Hatiield. — Philip repairs to the Nar- 
ragansetts. — The English declare war. — And invade the country. — Philip and his forces 
take refuge in a swamp.— Are surrounded. — Attacked. — And utterly routed. — Ruin of 
the Narragansett nation. — The war continues on the frontiers. — Towns and villages are 
destroyed. — The savages grow feeble.— Canonchet is taken.— And put to death. — Philip's 
family are captured. — And sold -as slaves. — Himself hunted down. — And shot. — SuV 



Xll 



CONTENTS. 



mission of the tribes. — Losses of New England. — Tlie English government refuses help. 
— Kandolph comes to abridge the liberties of Massachusetts. — And is defeated. — Mas- 
sachusetts purchases Maine of the heirs of Gorges. — Difficulties concerning New Hamp- 
shire. — A royal government is established in the province. — Cranfield's administration, 
—The king's hostility. — The charter of Massachusetts is annulled. — King Charles dies. 
— James 11. appoints Dudley governor. — And then Andros. — The liberties of the peo- 
ple are destroyed. — The government of Andros is extended over New England. — But 
the charter of Connecticut is saved. — The Revolution of 1688.— Andros is seized, and 
imprisoned. — And the colonies restore their liberties. .... 139-147. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

MASSACHUSETTS. — WAR AND WITCHCRAFT. 

King William's War begins. — The causes. — Dover is attacked and burned. — Pema- 
quid is destroyed. — And then Schenectady. — And Salmon Falls. — An expedition is 
planned against Canada. — Phipps takes Port Royal. — But fails at Quebec. — And re- 
turns. — Paper money is issued. — Failure of the expedition against Montreal. — Phipps 
goes to England. — And returns as royal governor. — Oyster River is destroyed. — Haver- 
hill is attacked and burned. — Mrs. Dustin's captivity. — The treaty of Ryswick.— Tlie 
witchcraft excitement begins at Salem. — The causes. — Parris and Mather. — The trials. 
—Convictions. — Executions. — Tlie reaction. — Matlier's liook. — Reflections. 147-153. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

MASSACHUSETTS. — WARS OF ANNE AND GEORGE. 

Causes of Queen Anne's War. — Field of operations in .\nicriea. — A treaty is made 
with the Five Nations. — The conflict begins. — Deerfield is burned. — And the inhab- 
itants carried captive to Canada. — Barbarities of the Indians. — An expedition is sent 
Against Port Royal. — The attempt fails. — Is renewed in 1710.— Port Royal is taken. — 
And named Annajiolis.— Preparations are made for invading Canada. — Nicholson com- 
mands the land forces. — And Walker the fleet. — The squadron is delayed. — Stops at 
<Jaspe Bay. — Is shattered by a storm in the St. Lawrence.— Returns in disgrace. — The 
expedition by land is abandoned. — A treaty is made at Utrecht. — A separate peace is 
concluded with the Indians. — The people of Massachusetts resist the royal governor. 
— Causes of King George's War. — The conflict begins. — Importance of Louisburg. — Its 
conquest is planned by Shirley. — Tlie colonies contribute men and means. — The expe- 
dition leaves Boston. — Is detained at Canseau. — Joined by Warren's fleet. — Reaches 
Gabarus Bay. — Invests Louisburg. — The siege. — The surrender. — Cape Breton submits. 
—France attempts to reconquer Louisburg.— Treaty of .\ix-la-Chapelle.— Char.acter of 
the Puritans. 153-160 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

NEW YORK. — SETTLEMENT. 
Cliaracter of Sir Henry Hudson. — The East India Company govern Manhattan. — A 
colony is sent from Holland. — X charter is granted to the West India Company. — The 
Walloons arrive at New Amsterdam. — May builds Fort Nas.'sau. — And Joris, Fort 
Orange. — Civil government begins in New Netherland. — May is governor. — And then 
Verhulst. — And Minuit. — Manhattan is purchased. — And fortified.— Friendly relations 
are established between the Walloons and the Puritans.— The Dutch devote themselves 
to the fur-tr.ade. — Growth of the colony. — A charter is granted. — The patroons. — Five 
manors are laid out. — Delaware is colonized. — .\nd then abandoned. — Van Twiller sue- 



CONTENTS. xiij 

ceeds Minuit. — A fort is built at Hartfoi-d. — The English claim the Connecticut. — Swe- 
den pnrposes to plant an American colony. — The project is delayed. — But renewed by 
Minuit. — A Swedish colony reaches the Delaware. — Settles at Christiana. — Is pro.sper- 
0U8. — And New Netherland is jealous. — Fort Nas,sau is rebuilt. — Printz removes to Tin- 
icum. — The Indians are provoked by the Dutch. — War breaks out. — A desultory contest. 
— The Mohawks come. — Kieft massacres the Algonquins. — The war continues. — Fate of 
Mrs. Hutchinson. — Underbill con(piers the Indians. — Kieft the author of the war. — 
De Vries succeeds him. 160-167. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

NEW YORK. — ADMINISTRATION OF STUYVESANT. 

Stuy vesant is appointed governor. — Peace established with the Indians. — Free trade 
succeeds monopoly.— Growth of the colony. — A boundary is established between New 
England and New Netherland. — The Dutch again claim New Sweden. — Build Fort 
Casimir. — The place is captured by the Swedes. — Stuyvesant conquers and anne-xes New 
Sweden. — The Algnnrjuins rebel. — And are subdued. — The Indians of Ulster ri.se. — 
Burn Esopus. — Are punished. — Stuyvesant is troubled about his boundaries. — Domes- 
tic difficulties. — New Netherland lags. — The Dutch prefer English laws. — The province 
is granted to the Duke of York. — The duke makes good his claim. — Sends out Nicolls. 
-^And conquers New Netherland. ........ 167-171. 

CHAPTER XX. 

NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. 

Nicolls .settles the boundaries of New York. — New Jersey is granted to Berkeley 
and Carteret. — Is claimed by Nicolls. — But the claim is set a.side. — The Territories. — 
The Dutch claim liberty. — Are disappointed. — New land-titles are issued. — Lovelace 
succeeds Nicolls. — And is resisted by the people. — His tyranny. — Friendship of the 
English and the Dutch. — War with Holland. — Evertsen reconquers New York. — But 
the province is restored to England. — Andros begins his government. — Proves himself 
a despot. — Claims the country from the Connecticut to Maryland. — Goes to Saybrook. 
— Is baffled by Captain Bull. — Attempts to overawe New Jer.sey. — And fails. — Delaware 
is separated from New York. — And joined to Pennsylvania. — Dongan becomes gov- 
ernor. — The right of representation is conceded. — Character of the Con.stitution. — A 
treaty is made with the Iroquois. — The Duke of York becomes king. — And overthrows 
colonial liberties. — Andros is sent out as governor of New England. — Usurps the gov- 
ernments of all the colonies north of the Delaware. — Leisler's insurrection. — The prov- 
ince yields to his authority. — Schenectady is burned. — Ingnldsby arrives as governor. 
— Leisler and Milborne are arresteil. — Tried — .Vnd hanged. — The Irocpiois treaty is 
renewed. — The Indians make war on the French. — The assembly declares against ar- 
bitrary authority. — Fletcher becomes governor. — Attempts to usurp the government 
of Connecticut and New Jersey. — Is defeated. — Effort to establish the Episcopal 
Church. — The project fails. — The French invade New York. — Are repelled.— Bello- 
raont becomes governor. — The career of Captain Kidd. — Cornbury succeeds Bellomont. 
— New Jersey is annexed to New York. — Cornbur-y's fraudulent administration. — He 
is overthrown. — And succeeded by Lovelace. — An unsuccessful expedition is made 
against Montreal. — The fleet also fails. — New York is in debt. — The treaty of Utrecht. 
— The Tuscarora migration. — A fort is built at Oswego. — The French fortify Niagara 
and Crown Point. — Crosby is sent out as governor. — Assails the freedom of the press. 
— The trial of Zenger. — The negro plot. — French invasions of New York. — Treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle. — Slow growth of the province. — Prospects. — Reflections. . 172-1S3. 



XIV CONTENTS. 

COLONIAL HISTORY.— Continued. 



MINOR EASTERN COLONIES. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Connecticut is granted to Warwick. — And transferred to Say-and-Seal. — The Dutch 
fortify Hartford. — The Puritans claim the country. — Send an e-xpedition up the Con- 
necticut. — Found Windsor. — A colony leaves Boston. — Settles on the Connecticut. — 
Winthrop founds Saybrook. — The English control the river. — The Pequod War. — The 
Narragansetts make a treaty with the English. — The Pequods do likewise. — Violate the 
compact. — Attempt an alliance with the Narragansetts. — Williams defeats the project. 
— The Mohegans join the English. — A massacre at Wetherslield. — Mason is cho.sen to 
command. — A force is organized. — Proceeds against the Pequods. — And destroys the 
nation. — The coast of Long Island Sound is explored. — New Haven is founded. — The 
Bible for a constitution. — Civil government begins in Connecticut. — Character of the 
laws. — Connecticut joins the Union. — Saybrook is annexed. — A treaty is made with 
Stuyvesant. — War with New Netherland is threatened. — King Charles is recognized. 
• — Winthrop is sent to England.— Obtains a charter. — Keturns. — Is chosen governor. — 
Growth of the colony. — Andros attempts to assume the government. — Is thwarted at Say- 
brook. — Returns .after twelve years. — Invades the assembly at Hartford. — Subverts the 
government. — The charter is saved. — Fletcher enters the colony. — Is baffled by Wads- 
worth. — Yale College is founded. — Development of the province. — Reflections. 184-192. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

RHODE ISLAND. 

Williams founds Rhode Island. — Sketch of his life.— The Baptist Church is or- 
ganized. — Civil government begins. — Character of the institutions. — Massachusetts re- 
fuses to recall Williams fiom exile. — A colony at Portsmouth. — The Jewish common- 
wealth. — Newport is foundeil.— The Norse tower. — A democracy is established. — Rhode 
Island is rejected by the Union. — Williams procures a charter. — The island of Rhode 
Island secedes. — Is reannexed. — Patriotism of Williams. — Charles II. reissues the 
charter. — Pro.sperity of Rhode Island. — Andros overturns the government. — Is over- 
thrown. — Henry Bull is governor. — Reflections. 193-19S. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

NEW HAMP.SHIKE. 

New Ilaiiipsliire is granted to Gorges and Mason. — .\nd colc^iized. — Settlements 
on the Piscataqua.— Tlie province is divided.— Wheelwright purchases the Indian 
title.— Mason's patent is confirmed. — He dies. — Difficulties ensue. — Exeter is founded. 
— New Hampshire is united with Massachusetts.— The Masonian claim is revived.— 
The question is decided. — The two provinces are separated. — Cranfield is appointed 
governor. — A general assembly is convened. — Character of the laws. — The royal officers 



CONTENTS. XV 

are resisted. — Andros assumes the government. — New Hamp,shire and Massachusetts 
are united. — Governed by Bellomont. — Finally separated. — The Masonian claim again. 
— How decided. — Suffering of tlie colony in the Indian wais. — Character of the people. 
— Keflections on the New England colonists 198-202. 



COLONIAL HISTORY.— Continued. 



MINOR MIDDLE COLONIES. 



cn.\PTER XXIV. 

NEW JERSEY. 

Early settlements in New Jersey. — At Bergen. — And Fort Nassau. — Grants and 
purchases.— The province is given to Berkeley and Carteret. — Nicolls makes a grant to 
Puritans. — Elizabetlitown is founded. — Nicolls contends with the Carterets. — The pro- 
prietors frame a con.'ititulion. — Character of the laws. — The quit-rents. — Tlie colonists 
resist payment. — Philip Carteret is deposed. — .\nd .James Carteret becomes governor. — 
New Jersey is retaken by Holland. — .\nd again ceded to England. — The Duke of York 
has his charter renewed. — .\ndros comes as governor. — Carteret resists. — Berkeley sells 
West Jersey to Fenwick. — Philip Carteret and Andros dispute about the Eastern prov- 
ince. — Laurie, Lucas, and Penn buy West Jersey. — Object of the ))urchase. — New Jersey 
is divided. — Line of division. The proprietors of West Jersey issue the Concessions. — ■ 
The Quakers colonize West Jersey. — The Duke of York claims the country. — Sir Wil- 
liam Jones decides again.st him. — Andros's claim to East .Jersey is annulled. — The Qua- 
kers convene an as.sembly. — .\nd frame a constitution. — East Jersey is purchased by the 
Friends. — Barclay is governor. — The two Jerseys submit to Andros. — And afterward 
regain their liberties. — Conflicting claims to the country. — Discord. — The proprietors 
surrender their rights of goverimient to tlie Crown. — New Jersey becomes a royal 
province. — Is attached to New York under Cornbury. — The people petition for a .sepa- 
ration. — Which is granted. — Morris becomes governor. — New Jersey not injured by 
Indian wars. — Keflections 203-208. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

The Friends are persecuted in Europe. — Penn designs to plant a Quaker State in 
America. — Charles II. grants the charter of Pennsylvania. — Penn relinquishes his 
claims on the British government. — Declares his purposes. — Writes a letter to the 
Swedes. — Invites emigration. — A colony departs under Markham. — The Indians are 
assured of friendship. — Penn frames a constitution.— The Duke of York surrenders 
Delaware. — Extent of Penn's dominion.— He leaves England with a second colony. — 
Sketch of his life. — He addresses the people at New Castle. — Passes through the 
Jerseys to New York. -Returns. — Makes the great treaty with the Indians. — Which is 
kept inviolate. — A convention is held at CMiester. — A provisional constitution is 
adopted. — Penn visits Lord Baltiuiore. — Philadelphia is founded. — Growtli of the 



xvi CONTENTS. 

city. — Penn sails for England. — Lloyd remains as governor. — Delaware secedes. — Penn 
adiieres co the Stuarts. — Is imprisoned. — His province is taken away. — But afterward 
restored. — Penn revisits America. — The constitution is modified. — Delaware is finally 
separated. — Penn returns to England.- — Condition of his province. — Hamilton and Evans 
deputy governors. — Conduct of the latter. — He is removed from ofHce. — Succeeded by 
Gookin. — Penn's trials in England. — He dies. — His sons become proprietors of Penn- 
.sylvania, — The province is purchased by the colonial assembly. — Reflections. 209-215. 



COLONIAL HISTORY— Continued. 



MINOR SOUTHERN COLONIES. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

MARYLAND. 

Clayborne is commissioned by the London Company. — Explores the Chesapeake. — 
Establishes trading-posts. — Sketch of Sir George Calvert's life. — He plans a Catholic 
colony. — Sends a company to Newfoundland. — Goes to Virginia. — Refuses the oath. — • 
Returns to England. — Obtains a charter. — Character and extent of tlie patent. — Calvert 
dies. — Sir Cecil succeeds him. — The name of Maryland. — A colony is .sent out under 
Leonard Calvert. — Reaches the Chesapeake. — Ascends the Potomac. — Returns. — And 
founds St. Mary's. — Friendly relations are established with the Indians. — Growth of 
the colony. — An assembly is convened. — Clayborne incites an insurrection. — Is beaten. 
— Escapes into Virginia. — la sent to England. — Representative government is estab- 
lished.— An Indian war breaks out. — Clayborne returns to America. — Leads a second 
insurrection.— Overthrows the government.— The rebellion is suppressed.— Tolerant 
character of the laws. — Division of the legislature. — Commissioners are appointed by 
Parliament.— Dissensions of Stone and Clayborne.— The civil war between the Catholics 
and Protestants.— Fendall's rebellion.— Maryland declares independence.— Kendall is 
condemned.— Charles Calvert is governor.— The Protestants gain control of the State. 
— Marvland becomes a royal province.— The heir of ijord Baltimore is restored to his 
rights.— The Calverts rule the colony until the Revolution.— Reflections. . 216-224. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

The name of Carolina.— Early explorations.— The country is granted to Clarendon 
and others.— Albemarle and Clarendon colonies are founded.— Cooper and Locke 
frame the grand model.— Its establishment impossible.— Clarendon county is aban- 
doned.— The proprietors oppress the colonists.— A rebellion ensues.— Governor Cul- 
pepper goes to England.— And defends the people.— Clarendon sells his rights.— Sothel 
is sent out as governor.— His tyranny.— He is overthrown.— Ludwell succeed.s.- And 
then Walker.- The colony prospers.— Decline of the Indian tribes.— A war breaks out. 
—Barnwell's expedition.— Peace.— And war again.— Moore invades the country of tb« 
Tuscaroras.— The .savages are beaten.— The nation is divided— The Tuscarora migra- 
tion. — Division of the Carolinas. — Character of the people. . . • 224-229- 



coy TESTS. xvii 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

A colony is sent out under West and Sayle. — Reaches Beaufort. — But settles on 
Ashley River. — Locke's constitution is rejected. — And a simple government adopted.^ 
West becomes governor. — .\nd then Yeamans.— Slavery is introduced. — Rapid immi- 
gration. — Charleston is founded. — \n Indian war arises. — Immigrants arrive from 
England, Scotland, and Ireland. — The Edict of Nantes is revoked. — The Huguenots 
flock to South Carolina. — Colleton becomes governor. — Declares martial law. — Is over- 
thrown. — Sothel takes the office. — Is banished. — Ludwell next. — Who retires to Vir- 
ginia. — The proprietors abrogate the grand model. — The Quaker Archdale. — His wise 
administration. — Moore succeeds. — The war with Florida. — Moore and Daniel attempt 
to take St. Augustine. — And fail. — Moore makes a successful campaign against the In- 
dians. — The Church of England is established. — The dissenters are disfranchised. — But 
the act is revoked by Parliament. — The Spaniards besiege Charleston. — And are re- 
pelled. — War with the Yamassees. — The savages are conquered. — Popular revolution 
in South Carolina. — Nicholson is governor. — The proprietors .sell Carolina to the 
king. — A royal government is established. — Character of the people. . 2.30-237. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 



Georgia founded in benevolence. — Oglethorpe the founder. — Sketch of his life. — 
He leads forth a colony. — And founds Savannah. — The friendly natives. — A treaty is 
made with the Muskhogees. — Immigrants arrive from various parts of Europe. — Ogle- 
thorpe goes to Elngland. — Returns. — The Moravians. — The Wesleys. — And Whitefield. — 
Conflicting claims of Georgia and Florida. — Oglethorpe builds forts. — Is commissioned 
as general. — War breaks out. — The governor besieges vSt. Augustine. — And fails. — The 
Spaniards invade Georgia. — Oglethorpe's stratagem. — The battle of Bloody Marsh. — 
The Spaniards are defeated. — And retreat to Florida. — The governor returns to Eng- 
land. — Slavery is introduced. — The prohibitory law is repealed. — Growth of Georgia. — 
Reflections on the thirteen colonies 238-244. 



COLONIAL HISTORY.— Continued. 



FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

CAUSES. 

The colonies begin to act together. — A sense of common danger unites them. — The 

French and Indian War arises. — Causes considered. — Conflicting territorial claims. — 

English colonies on the sea-board. — French colonies in the interior. — France purpoises 

to confine the English to the Atlantic slope. — French settlements result from the efibrta 

2 



xviii COIJTENTS. 

of the Jesuits. — Missions are established on the lakes. — Joliet and Marquette discover tht 
Mississippi. — Descend the river. — Keturn to Micliigan. — La Salle passes througli the 
lakes. — Descends the Illinois. — Goes to Canada. — Returns. — And explores the Missis- 
sippi to the gulf. — Sails for France. — Returns with a colony. — Reaches Texas. — Sets 
out for Canada. — Is murdered.— French posts are established. — The Ohio valley to ba 
occupied. — The animosity of France and England leads to war. — The frontiersmen o/' 
the two nations come in conflict. — The Ohio Company is organized. — Obtains a grant 
of land. — Bienville explores and claims the Ohio valley. — Gist traverses the country to 
the falls of the Ohio. — The French fortify Le Ba-uf and Venango. — Attack a British 
post. — Gist makes a second exploration. ^An English colony on the Youghiogheny. — 
The Indians favor the English. — The Half-King goes to Erie. — The chiefs confer with 
Franklin. — Dinwiddle sends a despatch to St. Pierre. — Washington is chosen for the 
mission. — Sets out by way of Will's Creek to the site of Pittsburg. — And thence to Le 
Boeuf. — Washington confers with St. Pierre. — And returns to Virginia. — Hardships 
of the journey. — Trent begins a fort at the fork of the Ohio.^The French capture the 
place. — And build Du Quesne. — Wa.shington is sent to retake the fort. . 245-255. 

CHAPTER XXXL 

CAMPAIGNS OF WASHINGTON AND BRADDOCK. 

Washington marches to Great Meadows. — Builds Fort Necessity. — Attacks and 
defeats Jumonville. — Extends the road toward Du Quesne. — De Villiers approaches. — 
Attacks Fort Necessity. — And compels a surrender. — An American congress assembles 
at Albany. — Fr.inklin plans a union. — The colonies reject the constitution. — France 
sends soldiers to America. — Braddock is sent by England. — He confers with the gov- 
ernors. — Plans four compaigns. — Marches his army to Fort Cumberland. — Proceeds 
against Du Quesne. — Approaches the fort. — Meets the French and Indians. — And is 
terribly defeated. — Washington saves the remnant of the army. — Death of Braddock. 
— Dunbar retreats. — Destroys the stores. — Evacuates Fort Cumberland. — Retires to 
Philadelphia 255-261., 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

RUIN OF ACADIA. 

Nova Scotia under English rule. — Lawrence fears an insurrection. — Is authorized 
to subdue the French inhabitants. — The English fleet leaves Boston. — The French 
forts on the Bay of Fundy. — The fleet arrives at Beau-Sejour. — The place is besieged. 
— And obliged to surrender. — The other forts capitulate. — The British ofiScers deter- 
mine to exile the inhabitants. — The country is laid waste. — And the people carried into 
banishment 261-264. 

CHAPTER XXXIIL 

EXPEDITIONS OF SHIRLEY AND JOHNSON. 

A campaign is planned against Niagara. — Shirley commands. — Proceeds to Os- 
wego. — Wastes the time. — Marches homeward. — Oswego is rebuilt. — Johnson and Ly. 
man go against the French on Lake Champlain. — Build Fort Edward. — Form a camp 
on Lake George. — Dleskau approaches. — Proceeds by way of Wood Creek against Fort 
Edward. — Meets the English. — And drives them to the camp. — The battle. — The 
French are defeated. — Dieskau is killed. — The English lose heavily. — Johnson builds 
Fort William Henry. — The French reinforce their forts 264-266. 



CONTENTS. xix 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

TWO YEARS OF DISASTER. 

Shirley becomes commander-in-chief. — Washington repels the Indians. — Franklin 
defends Pennsylvania. — The campaigns of 1756 are planned. — The military forces of 
America are consolidated. — Loudoun is commander-in-chief. — He and Abercrombie 
arrive in New York with soldiers and supplies.— England declares war. — Abercrombie 
goes to Albany. — And stays tliere. — Montcalm besieges and captures Oswego. — The 
Delawares revolt. — And are i)unished. — Loudoun burrows at Albany. — The French 
strengthen their forts. — The conquest of Louisburg is planned.^Loudoun proceeds to 
Halifax. — Holbourn joins him. — They muster and do nothing. — Loudoun returns to 
New York. — Montcalm and the Iroquois besiege and capture Fort William Henry. — 
The Indians massacre the prisoners. — Review of the situation. 267-270. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

TWO YEARS OF SUCCESSES. 

Pitt becomes prime minister. — Loudoun is deposed. — Abercrombie succeeds. — An 
able corps of generals sent to America. — Three campaigns are planned. — Amherst and 
Wolfe proceed against Louisburg. — Besiege and take the fortress. — Abercrombie attacks 
Ticonderoga. — And is repulsed with great loss. — Bradstreet takes Fort Frontenac. — 
Montcalm advises peace. — Forbes marches against Du Quesne. — Grant is defeated.^ 
Washington leads the advance. — The French abandon and burn Du Quesne. — The 
place named Pittsburg. — Amherst commander-in-chief. — Relative strength of the Eng- 
lish and the French. — Pitt plans the conquest of Canada. — Prideaux defeats the French 
before Niagara. — And captures the fortress. — Amherst takes Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point. — Wolfe proceeds against Quebec. — Reaches the Island of Orleans. — Besieges the 
city. — Tlie Lower Town is destroyed. — Montcalm's position. — The battle of Montmor- 
enci. — Wolfe's fever. — He ascends the river. — Plans an assault. — Discover's Wolfe's 
Cove. — Gains the Plains of Abraliam. — Fights a decisive battle. — Defeats the French. — 
Is slain. — Quebec capitulates. — And then Montreal. — The Cherokee revolt is quelled. — 
The effect of the conquest of Canada. The French outposts are included in the sur- 
render of Montreal. — Rogers is sent to take possession of the forts. — He reaches De- 
troit. — Receives the surrender of Forts Miami and Ouatanow. — Mackinaw, Green Bay 
and St. Marie afteiward capitulate. — The English treat the Red men badly. — The lat- 
ter become revengeful. — They make an attempt against Detroit. — And are baffled. — 
Conspiracies grow rife. — Pontiac organizes a confederacy. — Makes a plot for the cap- 
ture of Detroit. — And fails. — An unsuccessful siege ensues. — The savages are victorious 
in other quarters. — They capture most of the western forts. — The confederacy breaks 
up. — Pontiac is abandoned. — And killed. — The war continues on the ocean.— England 
is victorious.— A treaty of peace.— The terms 270-279. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES. 

The thirteen colonies. — Institutions. — Population. — Distribution of the same.— 
Growth of a national character and sentiment. — Education. — Character of the same in 
New England. — In the South.— Colleges. — Newspapers. — Books and men. — Absence oi 
roads. — .Agriculture the predominating pursuit. — Ship-building and manufactures. — 
What the British Board of Trade was good for. — Reflections on the character of the 
Anglo-American colonists 280-284. 



XX CONTENTS. 

PART IV. 

REVOLUTION AND CONFEDERATION. 

A. O. 1775-1789. 



CHAPTER XXXVir. 



importance of the revolution. — The question decided by it. — Character of the con- 
icat. — The causes. — Great Britain claims the right of arbitrary govenimcnt. — France 
incites tlie rebellion. — The disposition of the Americans encourages independence. — 
Public opinion leads to the same result. — The king provolies a conflict. — Parliament 
passes oppressive acts. — The question of taxation. — Nature of the dispute. — The Im- 
portation Act. — Its provisions. — Writs of Assistance are issued. — And resisted. — The 
sugar and wine duties. — The colonists refuse to poy them. — A Stamp Act is pi-oposed. — 
Indignation in the colonies. — The question of the Indian war-debt arises. — The Stamp 
Act is passed. — Its provisions. — The news is received in America. — The wrath of the 
people. — Scene in the House of Burgesses. — Patrick Henry's speech. — Pa.ssage of the 
resolutions. — Otiier as.semblies pursue a similar course. — Tlie first Colonial Congress. — 
A declaration of Rights is adopted. — Memorials to the king and Parliament. — The 
Stamp Act is resisted. — .\nd the stamps destroyed. — Suspension of busines.s. — The Sons 
of Liberty. — \ non-importation agreement is made. — The wrath of England. — Camden 
and Pitt defend the colonists. — Repeal of the Stamp Act. — Joy follows. — Townshend re- 
news the scheme. — Secures the passage of a glass and tea-tax. — The Americans resist 
the act. — Circular of Massachusetts. — -Seizure of a sloop at Boston. — Insurrection of the 
people. — Gage takes pos.se.ssion of Boston. — Is ordered to arrest the patriots. — Rebellion 
of Virginia and North Carolina. — Conflict at New York. — The Boston massacre. — Re- 
jieal of the duties. — Passage of the Salary Act. — Burning of the Gaspee. — Stratagem 
of the ministry. — Tea is sliipped to America. — Is spoiled at Charleston. — Refused at 
New York and Pliiladelphia. — -.And poured overboard at Boston. — Passage of the Port 
Bill. — Opposition of the Burgesses. — Tlie cliarter of Massachu.setts is annulled. — The 
people declared rebels. — The second Congress assembles. — Resolutions and addresses. 
— A British army is ordered to America. — Boston Neck fortified. — Military stores re- 
moved. — The assembly refuses to disband. — War becomes inevitable. . 285-296. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE BEGINNING. 

Tlie patriots remove their stores. — Gage plans to destroy them. — Pitcairn is .sent for 
that purpose. — Dawes and Revere arou.se the people. — The British reach Lexington. — 
Fire on the patriots. — Proceed to Concord. — Ransack the village.— Are attacked. — And 
driven back to Boston. — The country is fired. — The patriots gather at Cambridge. — 
Allen and Arnold march against Ticonderoga. — .^.nd capture the fortress. — The British 
are reinforced. — Proclamation of Gage. — His plans. — The Americans fortify Breed's 
Hill. — Amazement of the British. — The battle. — Excitement of the people. — The North 
Carolinians declare independence. — The Colonial Congress assembles. — An appeal to 
the king. — Washington commander-in-chief. — Sketch of his lif^. — tlis duties anc em 



CONTENTS. xxi 

barrassments. — Organization of tiie army. — Royal rule is overthrown. — Struggle with 
Dunmore. — Expedition against Quebec. — Led by Schuyler, Montgomery and Arnold. — 
Schuyler falls sick. — Montgomery lakes Montreal. — Hardships of Arnold's march. — He 
and Montgomery unite against Quebec. — The town is invested. — The assault and defeat. — 
Fall of Montgomery. — The expedition is abandoned. — Sketch of Montgomery. 297-30.5. 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE WOKK OF '76. 

The king answer-s the colonies. — Howe succeeds Gage. — Siege of Boston. — The Brit- 
ish evacuate the city. — The Americans enter. — Public rejoicings. — Washington goes to 
New York. — Clinton threatens the city. — Cornwallis and Parker proceed against 
Charleston. — Rising of the C'arolini.ans. — The attack on Moultrie. — Repulse of the Brit- 
ish. — Distresses of the army. — Great Britain hires the Hessians. — And makes new lev- 
ies. — Exasperation of tlie j)atriots. — The question of independence. — Lee's resolutions. 
■ — Debates. — A committee is appointed. — Tlie Declaration of Independence adopted. — 
And received witli enthusiasm. — Its leading principles. — Howe returns. — Lands an 
army. — Attempts to open negotiations. — And fails. — The British advance on Long Is- 
land. — Fight a battle. — And defeat the patriots. — Washington saves the army. — Dis- 
couragement of tlie people. — The British take New York. — Negotiations are again at- 
tempted. — But faih — Movements of the two armies. — Battle of Wliite Plains. — Dispo- 
sition of the American forces. — Notice of Hamilton. — Tlie capture of Fort Washington 
— Fort Lee is taken. — The Americans retreat acro.ss New Jer.sey. — The pursuit ends. — 
Enlargement of Washington's powers. — British successes in Rhode Island. — Lee's cap- 
ture. — W.ashington recruits his array. — Recrosses the Delaware. — Defeats tlie British at 
Trenton. — Effect of the battle. — Alarm of the British. — Robert Morris to the rescue. — 
Wasliington threatens the Britisli posts 305-317. 

CHAPTER XL. 

OPERATIONS OF '77. 

The British advance against Trenton. — Washington withdraws his forces. — Attacks 
Princeton. — And wins a victory. — Takes post at Morristown. — The British at New 
Brunswick. — Cornwallis on the defensive. — Destruction of stores at Peekskill. — Lincoln 
attacked at Boundbrook. — Tryon burns Danbury. — Is attacked and driven away. — 
Meigs takes Sag Harbor. — Washington advances into New Jersey. — Tlie British 
threaten Philadelphia. — Retire to Amboy. — Leave the State. — Barton captures Prescott. 
— Congress returns to Philadelphia. — Help from France. — Coming of La Fayette and 
De Kalb. — Plan of Burgoyne's campaign. — Tlie invasion begins. — Fall of Crown Point 
and Ticonderoga. — The battle of Hubbardton. — Capture of Whitehall. — Fort Edward 
is taken. — Schuyler retreats to the Mohawk. — The British advance is impeded. — Tiie 
b.attle of Bennington. — St. Leger besieges Schuyler. — Herkimer brings relief. — And is 
Jefeated. — Arnold advances. — The Indians desert the British. — St. Leger retreats. — Dis- 
couragement of Bui'Koyne. — Gathering of tlie Americans. — Burgoyne at Saratoga. — The 
first battle. — Critical condition of the British. — A diversion is attempted by Clinton. — 
But fails. — The second battle. — Tlie Americans victorious. — Burgoyne is surrounded. — 
And driven to surrender. — The army of the North relieves Washington. — The move- 
ment of Howe against Philadelphia. — He enters the Chesapeake. — The battle of Brandy- 
wine. — Retreat of the Americans. — Washington advances to Warren's Tavern. — A 
Btorm prevents the battle. — Countermarching of the armies. — The British capture Phil- 
adelphia. — Congress adjourns to Lancaster. — Washington on Skippack Creek. — The 



xxu 



CONTENTS. 



battle of Germantown. — Capture of Forta Mercer and Mifflin. — The Americans at 
Wliitemarsh. — Adventure of Lydia Darrah. — The British winter at Philadelphia. — The 
Americans at Valley Forge. — Sorrows of Washington 317-328. 

CHAPTER XLI. 

FKANCE TO THE RESCUE. 

Silas Deane is sent to France. — His mission. — France favors the Americans. — Sup» 
flies are sent to the patriots. — Steuben arrives. — Lee and Franklin are appointed to 
negotiate a treaty. — Franklin's influence at the French court. — A treaty is concluded. — 
Sketch of Franklin. — Arrival of D'Estaing's fleet. — War threatened between France and 
England.— Eff'ort of Great Britain for peace.— The British fleet at Philadelphia.— With- 
drawal of the squadron. — The city evacuated. — Washington pursues. — The battle of 
Monmouth. — Lee disobeys orders. — Is court-martialed and dismissed. — British concen- 
trate at New York. — The city threatened by D'Estaing. — He sails against Khode Island. 
^-Sullivan co-operates against Newport. — Howe follows D'Estaing. — Both squadrons 
shattered by a storm. — The siege of Newport. — Abandonment of the enterpri.se. — De- 
struction of American shipping. — Byron succeeds Howe. — Marauding of the British. — 
The Wyoming massacre. — Kuin of Cherry Valley. — The expedition of Major Clarke. — 
The French and British fleets sail away. — A force is sent against Savannah. — Capture of 
the city.— The situation 328--333. 

CHAPTER XLIL 

MOVEMENTS OF '79. 

Hardships of the soldiers. — T-yon's expedition. — Is attacked by the militia. — Put- 
nam's exploit. — Fall of vStony Point and Verplank's. — Insurrection in Virginia. — Tryon 
invades Connecticut. — Destruction of East Haven, Fairfield, and Norwalk. — Stony 
Point is retaken by Wayne. — Lee captures Jersey City. — An American flotilla sails to 
the Penob.scot. — Is ruined. — Sullivan ravages the Indian country.— The British evacuate 
Rhode Island. — War in the South. — Fort Sunbury is taken. — Fall of Augusta. — .Vnder- 
son defeats the tories. — Pickens gains a victory. — Augu.sta is evacuated. — Defeat of 
Lincoln's army. — The militia rally. — Lincoln take.s the field. — Threatens Augusta. — 
Returns to Charleston. — Is beaten at Slono Ferry. — Suspension of activity. — D'Estaing 
arrives. — Siege of Savannah. — The unsuccessful assault. — Paul Jones's victory. — Re- 
flections 334-339. 

CHAPTER XLIIL 

REVERSES AND TREASON. 

Operations in the North susjiended. — Ternay's fleet arrives. — Campaigns are planned. 
•— Arbutlinot and Clinton besiege Charleston. — The city is taken. — Ravages of Tarleton. 
— Plan of the British to conquer South Carolina. — Capture of Ninety-Six. — Cornwallis's 
success. — Tarleton's massacre. — South Carolina is subjugated. — Clinton returns to New 
York. — Marion and Sumter's bands. — They scour the country. — Their victories. — Gates 
takes command. — The British at Camden. — Gates advances against them. — Is met and 
defeated. — Is superseded by Greene. — Sumter's corps is broken up. — Cruelty of the 
British.— Rawdon advances into North Carolina. — Ferguson's tories are defeated. — 
Financial distresses. — Sacrifices of Morris. — The trea.son of Arnold. — Sketch of hi.s 
career. — Andr^ is sent to a conference. — The interview. — .\ndre attempt.s to return to 
New York. — Is captured, condemned, and executed. — Treaty with Holland. 339-345. 



CONTENTS. xxiii 

CHAPTER XLIV. 



Desperate condition of the army. — Tlie Pennsylvania line revolt. — Mutiny of the 
Jersey brigade. — Robert Morris secretary of finance. — Champe attempts to capture 
Arnold. — Fails. — Arnold's expedition to Virginia. — Second plan to capture him. — 
He becomes commander-in-chief in Virginia. — Is superseded. — And ordered out of the 
State. — Leads a band into Connecticut. — Captures Fort Griswold. — Greene in the 
South. — Advances into South Carolina. — Morgan at the Cowpens. — Is attacked by 
Tarleton. — But defeats him. — Cornwallis attempts to cut off Morgan's retreat. — Greene 
takes command. — Crosses the Catawba. — Race for the Yadkin. — Greene wins it. — 
Race for the Dan. — Greene wins it. — Chagrin of the British. — Greene turns upon 
the enemy. — Lee disperses the tories. — Greene moves forward to Guilford.^Cornwallis 
attacks him. — An indecisive battle. — The British retreat to Wilmington. — Cornwallis 
.goes to Virginia. — Tlie Americans advance into South Carolina.— The battle of Hob- 
kirk's Hill.— The British retire to Eutaw Springs.— The siege of Ninety-Six.— The 
place is abandoned by the enemy. — Greene in the Highlands.— Sumter, Lee, and 
Marion overrun the country. — Execution of Hayne. — Greene advances against Eutaw 
Springs. — The battle.— Tlie British retreat to Charleston.-- -The situation.— The cam- 
paign in Virginia. — Cornwallis ravages the State. — Marches down the James. — la 
attacked by Wayne. — Proceeds to Portsmouth. — And thence to Yorktown. — The Array 
of the North comes down upon him. — The French fleet co-operates. — Yorktown is 
besieged.— And Cornwallis's army taken.— Rejoicings.— Fall of the king's party in Par- 
liament. — Negotiations for peace. — A treaty is concluded. — Its terras. — Carleton super- 
sedes Clin ;on.— Evacuation of New York.— Washington bids farewell to his officers.- 
Retires to private life. .... 345-356. 

CHAPTER XLV. 

CONFEDERATION AND CNION. 

Bad condition of the government. — Its defects.— Franklin pleads for union. — 
A committee appointed to prepare a Constitution. — The Articles of Confederation 
are adopted. — The colonies are slow to ratify.— The Confederation. — Defects of the 
same. — Chaotic condition of affairs. — A firmer Constitution is projected. — The con- 
vention at Annapolis. — Adjournment to Philadelphia. — The Constitution is re- 
ported to the convention. — And adopted.— The last colonial Congres.s.— Its final work. 
—The North-western Territory is organized. — The several States cede their rights 
away. — St. Clair appointed governor. — Plan of organization. — Slavery is restricted. — 
— The people divide on the question of adopting the Constitution. — Sketch of Ham- 
ilton. — Character of the Constitution.— Amendments thereto.— The struggle in the 
colonial conventions. — Ratification by eleven States. — Washington is chosen Pres- 
ident.— John Adama for the vice-presidency.— Washington's journey to New York.— 
inclusion • 356-362. 



xxiv CONTENTS. 



PART V. 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

Washington's administration. 

Washington is inaugurated President. — And the new government organized. — The 
country is beset with difEculties. — A cabinet is formed. — The Supreme Court is organ- 
ized. — Rhode Island and North Carolina ratify the Constitution. — Washington makes a 
tour through New England. — Presidential etiquette. — Hamilton's financial measures. 
— The seat of government is fixed. — An Indian war breaks out. — Harmar marches 
against the Miamis. — Is defeated on the Maumee. — The Bank of the United States is 
established. — Vermont is admitted into the Union. — The first census. — St. Clair is sent 
again.st the Indians. — His army is defeated. — The wrath of Washington. — St. Clair is 
BUijerseded by Wayne. — Kentucky is admitted. — Wa.shington re-elected. — The foreign 
relations of tlie government are troubled. — Genet's conduct. — Fouchet supersedes 
him. — Troubles in the President's cabinet. — Antagonism of Jefl'erson and Hamilton. — 
The whisky insurrection breaks out. — Is suppressed by Lee. — Wayne invades the 
Indian country. — Defeats the Red men at Waynesfield. — Compels a cession of ter- 
ritory. — Die.s. — Great Britain orders the seizure of American ves-sels. — Jay procures 
reparation and a treaty. — Popular opposition thereto. — The compact with Spain. — 
Peace is purchased of Algiers. — Tennessee is admitted. — Washington issues his Fare- 
well address. — The candidates for the Presidency. — Adams -s elected. — Jefferson for 
Vice-President 363-371. 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

ADAMS's ADMINISTRATION. 

Sketch of John Adams. — Opposition to tlie new administration. — France demands 
an alliance. — Orders the destruction of American commerce. — Pinckney is dismissed. — 
The extra session of Congress. — Gerry, Marshall, and Pinckney are sent to France. — 
The Directory want money. — Pinckney's answer. — An American army is organized. — 
Washington comander-in-chief. — The work of the navy. — Truxtun's victories. — Doings 
of Talleyrand. — Napoleon seeks peace. — The succes-sful embassy of Murray, Ellsworth, 
and Davie. — Death of Washington. — Close of the administration. — Growth of the 
country. — The .\lien and Sedition laws. — Overthrow of the Federal party. — JefTerson 
is elected President. — And Burr Vice-President. 372-376. 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Jefferson's administration. 

Sketch of Jefferson. — He puts Democrats in office. — Ohio is admitted. — Indiana 
and Mississippi organized. — Louisiana Ls purchased from France. — Boundaries. — The 
territory of Orleans is set off. — John Marshall in the chief-justiceship. — The Mediter- 



CONTENTS. XXV 

ranean pirates. — Preble is sent against them. — The Philadelphia is captured. — Eetakei 
and burned. — The siege of Tripoli. — Expedition of Eaton. — Yusef signs a treaty. — The 
duel of Burr and Hamilton. — Jefferson Ls re-elected. — Michigan Ls organized. — Lewis 
and Clarke explore Oregon. — Burr makes a consjjiracy.— Is tried for treason. — Brit- 
ish aggressions on American commerce. — England blockades the coast of France. — 
Napoleon retaliates. — Great Britain forbids the coasting trade. — An old abuse revived. 
— The rule of 1756 again ai^serted. — The effect on American commerce. — The English 
theory of citizenship. — The object of that theory. — The attack of the Leopard on the 
Chesapeake. — Passage of the Embargo Act. — The Orders in Council and Milan Decree.^ 
Fulton and his steamboat. — Inveiiticn of the torpedo. — Summary of events. 376-388. 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

Madison's abministkation and the wak op '12. 

Sketch of the life and previous services of Madison. — His politics. — The Non- 
intercourse Act takes the place of the Embargo. — Erskine promises the repeal of the 
Orders in Council. — The promise not fulfilled. — Bonaparte makes a decree. — And then 
revokes it. — Obstinacy of Great Britain. — A crisis is reached. — Third census. — Tecumtha 
and the Prophet. — Harrison purchases lands. — Tecumtha refuses to ratify. — Harrison 
marches up the Wabash Valley. — Approaches the Prophet's town. — Is attacked by 
night. — And routs the savages. — Fight of the President, and Little Belt. — Tlie twelfth 
Congress. — War inevitable. — The President's timid disposition. — Henry's conspiracy is 
discovered. — Nature of the plot. — Effect of the disclosure. — British vessels are embar- 
goed. — Louisiana is admitted. — War declared against England. — Preparations. — Relative 
strength of the belligerents. — Hull's campaign. — He marches to the head of Lake Erie. 
— Reaches Detroit. — Invades Canada. — Retreats. — Van Home's defeat. — Miller's vic- 
tory. — Siege of Detroit. — Hull's disgraceful surrender. — He is convicted of cowardice. 
— Capture and burning of Fort Dearborn.^ — Character assumed by the war. — Sketch of 
the American defences. — The Constitution captures the Guerriere.- — The Wa-'^p the Frolic. 
— The Poictlers the Wasp. — The United Stattfi the Macedonian. — The Essex the Nocton.-— 
And the CtmMititlion the Jatn. — Effect of these victories. — Comment of the English 
newspapers. — Van Rensselaer moves against Queenstown. — Carries the batteries. — 
Death of Brock. — The Americans entrench. — But are forced to surrender. — Smyth suc- 
ceeds Van Rensselaer. — And makes a fool of himself. — The Americans at Black Rock 
croas and recross the river. — Madison re-elected. 388-399. 

CHAPTER L. 

WAR OP '12. — CONTINUED. 

Plan of the campaigns of '13. — The Americans capture Frenchtown. — Are as- 
sailed by Proctor. — Surrender. — And are butchered.— Harrison at Fort Meigs. — He 
is besieged. — Clay raises the siege. — Proctor and Tecumtha return. — Attack Fort 
Stephenson. — And are defeated by Croghan. — Affairs on Lake Erie. — Perry builds 
a fleet. — Attacks the British squadron. — And gains a signal victory. — Harrison em- 
barks his forces to Maiden. — Follows the British and Indians to the Thames. — And 
routs them in battle. — The Creeks massacre the garrison at Fort Mims. — Jackson 
and Coffee with the Tennesseeans. — They burn Tallushatchie. — Battles of Talladega 
and Auto.sse. — Winter and starvation. — Battle of Eniucfau. — And Horse Shoe Bend. — 
Dearborn proceeds against Toronto. — Battle at the water's edge. — The Americans 
capture the town. — The British attack Sackett's Harbor. — The Americana on the 
Niagara. — Tiiey storm Fort George. — Suspension of operations. — Wilkinson is mads 



xxvi CONTENTS. 

commander-in-chief. — Expedition against Montreal. — Tlie battle of Chrysler's Field. 
— The expedition is abandoned. — Winter quarters at Fort Covington. — McClure 
evacuates Fort George. — Burns Newark. — The British retaliate. — The Honiet captures 
the Peacock. — Tlie Chesapeake is taken by the Shannon. — Death of Lawrence. — Cap- 
ture of tlie Argus. — The Enterprise takes the Boxer. — The Essex is captured by the 
Phabe and Cherub. — A British fleet bombards Lewiston. — Marauding in the Chesa- 
peake 400-407. 

CHAPTER LI. 

CAMPAIGNS OF '14. 

Scott and Ripley capture Erie. — Battles of Chippewa and Niagara. — The Amer- 
icans retreat to Erie. — Siege of that place by the British. — They are driven off. — 'Winter 
quarters at Black Rock. — Wilkinson again invades Canada. — Is defeated at La CoUe. — 
And retreats to Plattsburg. — McDonough's squadron on the lake. — The British ad- 
vance. — Attack by land and water. — And are defeated. — Cochrane and Ross in the 
Cliesapeake. — Barney destroys his vessels. — Battle of BUulensburg. — Washington is 
captured by the British. — Public buildings burned. — Alexandria pays a ransom. — 
Siege of Baltimore. — Ravages in New England.— The Federal peace party. — The Hart- 
ford Convention.^ — Jackson captures Pensacola. — Takes command at New Orleans. — 
Approach of the British. — Skirmishing and fighting. — The decisive battle. — Ruin of 
Packenham's army. — The news of peace. — Sea-fights afterward. — The treaty of Ghent. 
— Great rejoicings. — Terms of the treaty. — Condition of the country. — Rechartering of 
the United States Bank. — The Mediterranean pirates again.^Decatur sent out against 
them. — He captures a Moorish ship. — And llien another. — Enters the Bay of Algiers. — 
And dictates the terms of peace. — Indiana is admitted. — Liberia founded. — Monroe is 
elected President 407-416. 

CHAPTER LII. 

Monroe's administration. 

The new President and his policy. — Tlie cabinet. — Revival of the country. — De- 
mand for the recognition of Hayti. — Treaty with the Northwestern Indians. — Missis- 
sippi is admitted. — The pirates of .\raelia Island dispersed. — The question of internal 
improvements arises. — The canal from Buffalo to Albany. — The Seminole war breaks 
out. — Jackson invades the hostile country. — Captures St. Marks. — Hangs Arbuthnot and 
Ambrister. — Takes Pensacola. — An excitement follows. — Which leads to the ce&sion of 
Florida. — Great financial crisis of 1819. — Illinois is admitted. — And Alabama. — Ar- 
kansas is organized. — And Maine admitted. — And Missouri. — The slavery agitation.— 
.\nd Mi.s.souri Compromise. — Its terms. — Monroe and Tompkins are re-elected. — Com- 
modore Porter suppresses piracy in the West Indies. — Sympathy of the United States 
for the South American republics. — The Monroe Doctrine. — The visit of La Fayette. — 
Excitement attending the presidential election. — John Quincy Adams chosen. 416-423. 

CHAPTER LIIL 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS's ADjnNISTRATION. 

Sketch of the President. — Partisan opposition in Congress. — Internal improve- 
oents favored by the executive. — Trouble with Georgia about the lands of the Creeks. 
'Settled by a treaty. — Death of Adams and Jefferson. — The Masonic excitement in 



CONTENTS. 



XXVII 



New York. — Discussion of the tariff in Congress. — A protective duty laid on fabrics. — 
A new departure in American history. — Adams renominated for the Presidency. — Gen- 
eral Jackson put forward by the Democrats. — And elected. . . . 423-426. 

CHAFIER LIV. 

Jackson's administration. 

Sketch of Jackson's life and character. — He fills the offices with his political 
mends —Opposes the rechartering of the United States Bank. — And vetoes the bill.^ 
The new political organization. — Sketch of partie.s. — The tariff question again.— South 
Carolina attempts nullification. — Debate of Webster and Hayne. — The President's proc- 
lamation. — South Carolina recedes from her position. — Mr. Clay's tariff compromi.'ie. — 
The Black Hawk war breaks out. — Generals Scott and Atkinson are sent against the 
Eed men. — Who are driven to submission. — The difiiculty with the Cherokees. — Char- 
acter of that race.— The wrongs done to them. — Scott compels their removal to the 
West. — A second Seminole war. — The arrest of Osceola. — His release and conspiracy. — 
Dade's massacre.— Murder of General Thompson. — Clinch fights the savages and re- 
treats. — Gaines defeats the Indians on the Withlacoochie. — Battle of the Wahoo Swamp. 
' — A second fight. — The President orders the distribution of the funds. — A panic follows. 
— The President is vituperated. — Is censured by Congress. — But re-elected. — He brings 
France and Portugal to terms.— Death-list of eminent men. — Fires in New York and 
Washington. — Arkansas and Michigan admitted into the Union. — -Jackson's farewell 
address. — Van Buren elected President 426-436. 

CHAPTER LV. 

VAN buren's administration. 

Sketch of the new executive. — Another monetary disturbance. — Continuance of the 
Seminole war. — Colonel Taylor hunts the savages to Lake Okeechobee. — Defeats tliem. 
— And compels submission. — The financial panic of '37. — Causes which led thereto — 
Especially the Specie Circular. — The banks suspend. — Tremendous failures. — Treasury 
notes are issued. — The Independent Treasury Bill is discussed. — And finally passed. — 
Partial revival of business. — The Canada insurrection. — Affair of the Caroline. — Wool is 
sent to the Niagara. — Order is restored. — An early presidential canvass. — Uneventful 
character of Van Buren's administration. — The sixth census. — General Harrison is 
elected President. . 436-440 

CHAPTER LVI. 

administrations of HARRISON AND TYLER. 

Sketch of the President's life. — He enters upon his duties. — Falls sick. — And dies. 
— Tyler succeeds to the Presidency. — Sketch. — Repeal of the Independent Treasury 
Bill. — A bill is passed to recharter the United States Bank. — And vetoed by the Presi- 
dent. — The bankrupt law. — Rupture between the executive and Congress. — Resignation 
of the cabinet. — The north-eastern boundary is settled by the Webster-Ashburton treaty. 
— The Rhode Island insurrection. — The suffrage party elects Dorr. — And the law-and- 
order party, King. — The latter is supported by the government. — Dorr's followers are 
scattered. — And himself convicted of treason. — But afterward pardoned. — Building and 
dedication of Bunker Hill monument. — The Van Rensselaer land troubles in New 
York. — The Mormons. — They are driven from Missouri. — Found Nauvoo. — Popular 
feeling against them. — Smith and his brother are murdered. — And the Mormons driven 



xxviii CONTENTS. 

into exile. — They journey to Salt Lake. — The Texas excitement begins. — Outline of 
Texas history. — The peojJe rebel against Mexico. — Battle of Gonzales. — Capture of the 
Alamo. — And nia.ssacre of the garrison. — The battle of San Jacinto decides the contest. 
— Texas independent. — >Seeks admission into the Union. — Is refused at first. — The peo- 
ple of the United States divide on the question of annexation. — On that issue Polk 
is elected President. — Professor Morse and the telegraph. — Texas admitted into the 
Union 440-447. 

CHAPTER LVII. 

pole's administration and the MEXICAN WAR. 

Sketch of President Polk. — Texas ratifies the annexation. — General Taylor sent to 
defend the country. — The boundary question. — Proposition to negotiate. — Mexico 
refuses. — Taylor ordered to the Neuces. — And thence to the Kio Grande. — He estab- 
lishes a post at Point Isabel. — And builds Fort Brown. — Beginning of hostilities by the 
Mexicans. — Taylor retires to Point Isabel. — Mexican boasting. — Returns toward Mata- 
moras. — Meets the Mexicans. — Fights and gains the battles of Palo Alto and Re.saca de 
la Palma. — Siege of Fort Brown. — News of the battles in the Unite<i States. — Declaration 
of War. — Plan of the campaigns. — General Wool musters the forces. — Taylor captures 
Matamoras. — Advances against Monterey. — Besieges and .storms the town. — An armis- 
tice. — Santa Anna made President of Mexico and general of tlie army. — Saltillo is taken 
by Worth. — Victoria by Patterson. — And Tampico by Conner. — Wool advances. — And 
Scott assumes command. — Kearney captures Santa F^. — Moves westward. — Is joined by 
Carson. — And marches to the Pacific coast. — The deeds of Colonel Fremont. — Rebellion 
of the Californians. — They defeat the Mexicans. — Monterey, San Diego, and Los Angelos 
taken. — Battle of San Gabriel. — The march and battles of Colonel Doniphan. — Taylor's 
and Wool's forces ordered to the coast. — Critical condition of Taylor's army. — Aj>- 
proach of Santa Anna. — Battle of Buena Vista. — Retirement of Taylor from the 
service. — Scott besieges and captures Vera Cruz. — Marches against the capital. — Battle 
of Cerro Gordo. — Jalapa, Perote, and Puebla are taken. — Negotiations. — The march 
renewed. — The army passes the Cordilleras. — Reaches Ayotla. — Turns to the left. — The 
approaches and fortifications of the city. — Storming of Contreras and San Antonio. — 
C'hurubusco is carried. — The Mexicans driven back to Chapnltepec. — More foolish nego- 
tiations. — Scott rests his army. — And then advances. — Molino del Rey and Casa de 
Mata are stormed. — Chapnltepec is taken. — Flight of the Mexican government. — The 
American army enters the city. — Santa Anna attacks the hospitals at Pnebla. — Is driven 
off by General Lane. — Downfall of the Mexican authority, — The treaty of Gaudalupe 
Hidalgo. — Its terms. — Settlement of the Oregon boundary. — The international line es- 
tablished on the forty-ninth parallel. — The discovery of gold in California. — The excite- 
ment which ensued. — Importance of the mines. — Founding of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion. — Death of Jackson and John Quincy Adams. — Wisconsin is admitted. — Establish- 
ment of the Department of the Interior. — The canvass for President. — Rise of the Fret 
Soil party. — The Wilmot proviso. — Election of Taylor to the presidency. 447-46i 

CHAPTER LVIII. 

ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOR AND FILLMORE. 

Sketch of the chief magistrate. — The question of slavery in California.— A terri. 
torial government is organized. — A petition for admission. — The controversy in Con. 
gress. — Other political vexations. — Clay as a peace-maker. — Pa.ssage of the Omnibun 
Bill. — And its provisions. — Death of the President. — The slaverv excitement subsides. 



CONTENTS. XXIX 

— The question not permanently settled. — Eetirement of Mr. Clay. — Effects of the Om- 
nibu.'i Bill on the administration. — The Cuban expedition is organized. — Lopez and his 
associates are executed. — Important measures recommended by the President. — A diffi- 
culty arises about the coast-fisheries. — And is settled by a treaty. — The tour of Kossuth. 
— Arctic expeditions of Franklin, De Haven, and Kane. — Death of Calhoun, Clay, and 
Webster. — The Cuban excitement in Europe. — The Tripartite Treaty is proposed. — 
And rejected. — Everett's reply to France and Great Britain.— The candidates for the. 
presidency. — Pierce is elected 463-469. 

CHAPTER LIX. 

Pierce's adsdnistbation. 

Sketch of Franklin Pierce. — A route for a Pacific railroad is explored. — Settle- 
ment of the boundary of New Mexico. — The Japanese ports are opened to the United 
States. — The World's Fair. — Walker organizes a filibustering expedition against Central 
America. — Is captured. — Makes a .second descent on Nicaraugua. — And then a third. — 
Is defeated, captured, and executed. — The Martin Koszta affair. — Cuban difficulties. — 
The Ostend manifesto. — A bill to organize Kansas and Nebraska is pas.sed. — Repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise. — Renewal of the slavery agitation. — The troubles in Kan- 
sas. — Two territorial governments are organized. — Geary .sent thither as military gov- 
ernor. — Marshaling of parties on the slavery question. — Buchanan is elected to the pres- 
idency. . . 469-4"4, 

CHAPTER LX. 

buchanan'.s administration. 

Sketch of the President. — The Dred Scott decision. — The Mormon rebellion in 
Utah. — Is suppressed by the army. — A difficulty ari.ses with Paraguay. — But is settled 
by treaty. — The fir.«t Atlantic cable is laid. — Minnesota is admitted. — Retirement and 
sketch of Houston. — Death of Washington Irving. — His work in American literature. 
— The Personal Liberty bills. — John Brown's insurrection. — C-ontinuance of the troubles 
in Kansa.s — The political parties again divide on the slavery question. — The National 
conventions. — The candidates and the canvass. — Lincoln is elected President. — Condi- 
tion of affairs in the government. — Position of Buchanan. — The drama of secession. — • 
Seven States withdraw from the Union. — The seces.sion conventions. — Position of Steph- 
ens. — Organization of the Provisional Confederate government. — Davis for President. — ■ 
The peace movements end in failure. — Paralysis of the administration. — Seizure 
of forts and arsenals by the Confederate.s. — The strife in Kansas continues. — The 
Star of the Went is driven off from Fort Sumter. — The President elect reaches Wash- 
ington 474-482. 

CHAPTER LXI. 

Lincoln's administration and the civil war. 

Sketch of Abraham Lincoln. — Organization of his cabinet. — His purpose to repos- 
»e3B the forts of the L^nited States. — Preparations to reinforce Fort Sumter. — Confed- 
erate movements in Charleston. — Bombardment and fall of Fort Sumter. — The event 
fires the nation. — The call for troops. — Secession of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, 
and Tennessee. — The soldiers attacked in Baltimore. — Capture of Harper's Ferry and 
the Norfolk navy yard. — Prodigious activity and preparations. — Davis and his cabinet 
»t Richmond 482-4S5 



XXX CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER LXII. 

THE CAUSES. 

The causes.— First, the different construction of the Constitution in the North and 
the South. — Fatal cliaracter of this disjuite. — Second, the system of slavery. — The 
cotton gin.— The Missouri agitation.— The annexation of Texas, and the Mexican 
War. — The nulliBcation measures of South Carolina. — The Omnibus Bill. — The Kan- 
sas-Nebraska imbroglio. — Third, the want of intercourse between the North and 
the South. — Fourth, the publication of sectional books. — Fifth, the influence of dema- 
gogues 485-488 

CHAPTER LXIII. 

FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. 

Advance of the Union army. — Fight at Big Bethel.— Morris and McClellan move 
forward in West Virginia.— Engagements at Philippi, Rich Mountain, Carrick's Ford, 
Carnifex Ferry, Cheat Mountain, and Romney. — The Confederates concentrate at 
Manassas. — The national forces advance. — Tlie skirmish, the battle, and the rout. — 
Effect on the country. — The Confederate government at Richmond. — Sketch of Davis. 
— Affairs in Missouri. — Confederates capture Liberty. — Form Camp Jackson. — Lyon 
defends St. Louis. — Battlen of Carthage and Springfield. — Price captures Lexington. — 
Fremont pursues him. — And is superseded. — Grant captures Belmont. — McClellan is 
made commander-in-chief. — The disaster at Ball's Bluff. — H.atteras inlet, Port Royal, 
and Hilton Head secured by the Federals. — Capture of Mason and Slidell. — They are 
released by Mr. Seward. 490-495. 

CHAPTER LXIV. 

CAMPAIGNS OF '62. 

Extent and position of the Union forces. — Tlie Confederates defeated on the Big 
Sandy and at Mill Spring. — Fort Henry is taken. — Siege and capture of Fort Donelson. 
— Battle of Shiloh. — Island Number Ten is t.aken. — The battle of Pea Ridge. — Fight 
of the Mrmilor and the Merrimuc. — Eurnside captures Roanoke Island, Newbern, and 
Beaufort. — Savannah is blockaded. — Farragut aud Butler ascend the Mississippi. — Pass 
Forts Jackson and St. Philip. — Capture of New Orleans. — Fall of Jackson and St. 
Philip. — Kirby Smith invades Kentucky. — Battle of Richmond. — Bragg marches on 
Louisville. — The city held by Buell. — Bragg retreats. — Battle of Perryville. — Battles of 
luka and Corinth. — Grant moves against Vicksburg. — Retreats. — Battle of Chickasaw 
Bavou. — Battle of Murfreesborough.— Banks and Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. — 
Fight at Front Royal. — The Federals retreat across the Potomac. — The Confederates 
fall back in turn.— Battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic— McClellan advances.— 
Beginning of the Peninsular campaign. — Yorktown is taken. — Then William.«burg and 
West Point.— Wool captures Norfolk.— The Virymia destroyed.— Bailie of Fair Oaks.— 
Lee made general-in-chief of the Confederates.— McClellan changes ba.se.— The seven 
days' battles.— The Union army at Harrison's Landing. — Lee strikes for Washington. — 
Is opposed by Pope.— Flank movement of Jackson.— Battles of Manassas, Centreville, 
and Chantilly.- Lee invades Maryland.— Harper's Ferry is taken. — Engagement at 
South Mountain.— Battle of Antietam.— Confederates retreat.— Burnside in command. — 
Plans a campaign against Richmond.— Advances against Fredericksburg.— And is de- 
feated 495-510. 



CONTENTS. XXX) 

CHAPTER LXV. 

THE WORK OF '63. 

Proportions of the conflict. — New calls for troops. — The Emancipation Proclaraa- 
4on. — Capture of Arkansas Post. — Movements against Vicksburg. — The fleet passes the 
batteries. — Grant at Bruinsburg. — Battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, and 
Champion Hills. — The siege and capture of Vicksburg. — Fall of Port Hudson. — Cav- 
alry raids of Jackson, Stuart, and Grierson. — Roseerans drives Bragg across the Ten- 
nessee. — Battle of Chattanooga. — And the siege. — Storming of Lookout and Missionary 
Ridge. — Longstreet in Tennessee. — Siege of Knoxville. — Engagements at Springfield, 
Cape Girardeau, and Helena. — The sacking of Lawrence. — Capture of Little Rock. — 
Morgan invades Indiana. — Pa.sses into Ohio. — Is hemmed in and captured. — The Con- 
federates take Galveston. — The siege of Charleston. — Hooker commands the Army of 
the Potomac. — Battle of Chancellorsville. — Death of Stonewall Jackson. — Stoneman's 
raid. — Siege of Suffolk. — Lee invades Pennsylvania. — The battle of Gettysburg. — Re- 
treat of the Confederates. — The conscription. — Riot in New York.^The draft. — New 
calls for soldiers. — West Virginia a State. ...... 510-523. 

CHAPTER LXVI. 

THE CLCSING CONFLICTS. 

Sherman's campaign to Meridian. — Smith fails to form a junction. — Sherman 
retires to Vicksburg. — Forrest's raid. — The Red River expedition. — Plan of the cam- 
paign. — Capture of Fort de Russy, Alexandria, and Natchitoches. — Union disaster and 
retreat. — Steele falls back to Little Rock. — Grant lieutenant-general. — Plan of the cam- 
paigns of '64. — Sherman advances. — Battles of Dalton, Resaca, and Dallas. — Attacks 
and repulses at Kenesaw. — The Confederates fall back to Atlanta. — Siege and capture of 
the stronghold. — Hood invades Tennessee. — Thomas sent to confront him. — Battle of 
Franklin. — Siege of Nashville. — Rout and ruin of Hood's army. — Sherman's march to 
the sea. — Capture of Macon, Milledgeville, Gibson, and Waynesborough. — Storming 
of Fort McAllister. — Escape of Hardee. — And capture of the city. — The Union army in 
Savannah. — Renewal of the march. — Columbia, Charleston, and Fayetteville are taken. 
— Battle of Kilpatrick's and Hampton's Cavalry. — Johnston restored to command. — 
Battles of Averasborough and Bentonsville. — Capture of Goldsborough and Raleigh. — 
Great raid of Stoneman. — Surrender of Johnston. — Farragut enters Mobile Bay. — 
Defeats the Confederate squadron. — Captures Forts Gaines and Morgan.— Fort Fisher 
is besieged by Porter and Butler. — The first effort fails. — The siege is renewed. — 
And the fort taken by storm. — Cushing's exploit. — The Confederate cruiser.s. — Injury 
done to the commerce of the United States. — The Savannah. — Career of the Sumler. — 
Cruise of the Nashville. — The Confederates use the British ship-yards. — Building of the 
Florida. — Her fate. — The Georgia, the Olustee, the Shenandoah, and the Chiekamauga built 
at Glasgow. — End of the Chiekamauga and the Tallahassee. — Career of the Georgia and 
the Shenandoah. — The Alabama. — Her character. — She scours the ocean. — Runs into 
Cherbourg. — Is caught by the Kearsarge. — And destroyed. — The Army of the Potomac 
moves from Culpepper. — Reaches the Wilderness. — The battles. — Grant advances to 
Spottsylvania. — Terrible fighting tliere. — Tlie Union army moves to Cold Harbor. — 
Is repulsed in two battles. — Los.ses. — Grant changes base. — Butler captures Bermuda 
and City Point. — Is driven back by Beauregard. — Junction of the armies. — Advance on 
Petersburg.— The assaults.— The siege begins.— Sigel on the Shenandoah.— Battle of 
New Market. — Hunter in command. — Engagement at Piedmont. — Retreat of Hunter. — 
Early enters the valley. — Crosses the Potomac— Defeats Wallace.— Threatens Wash- 



xxxii CONTENTS. 

ingtun and Baltimore. — Retreats into Virginia. — Figlit at Wincliestcr. — Tlie Confed 
erate.s burn Chambersburg. — Sheridan is sent into the valley. — Battles of Winchester 
and FLsher's Hill. — Slieridan ravages the country. — Early comes. — Routs the Federals 
at Cedar Creek. — Sheridan return.s, and destroys Early's army, — The siege of Peters- 
burg continues. — Battles of Boydtown and Five Forks. — Flight of the Confederate 
government. — Fall of Petersburg and Richmond. — Surrender of Lee. — Collapse of the 
Confederacy. — The Federal authority is re established. — Capture, imprisonment, and 
trial of Davis. — Lincoln re-elected. — Financial condition of the country. — Treasury 
notes. — Internal Revenue. — Legal Tenders. — Bonds. — Banks. — The debt. — Lincoln is 
reinaugurated. — Visits Richmond. — Is assas-sinated. — Punishment of his murderers. — 
Character of Lincoln. .......... 523-543. 

CHAPTER LXVII. 

Johnson's .administration. 

Johnson in the presidency. — Sketch of his life and character. — Slavery is formally 
abolished. — The Amnesty Proclamation. — A struggle vvitii the war-debt. — Napoleon's 
empire in Mexico. — Maximilian is captured and shot. — Final success of the Atlantic 
telegraph. — The Postal Money-Order .system is established. — The Territories assume 
their final form. — Alaska is purchased from Russia. — The difficulty between the Presi- 
dent and Congress. — The reconstruction imbroglio. — Second amnesty. — The Civil Rights 
Bill is passed. — Tlie Southeni States are re-admitted. — .\ national convention at Phila- 
delphia. — The President makes a tour of the country. — Congressional measures of 
reconstruction. — The breacli is widened between the executive and Congress. — The ve^ 
toing business. — The President removes Stanton. — Is imjjeached. — And acquitted. — Gen- 
eral Grant is elected President. ........ 644-551 

CHAPTER LXVIIL 

grant's administration. 

Sketch of President Grant. — The Pacific Railroad is completed. — The Fourteenth 
and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution are adopted. — The story of Black 
Friday. — The Southern States are restored to their place in tlie L^nion. — The ninth 
census and its lesson. — The Santo Domingo business. — The Alabama claims are ad- 
justed by the treaty of Washington and the Geneva court. — Railroad development 
of the United States. — The burning of Chicago. — The Nortli-western boundary is 
settled by arbitration. — The presidential election. — The candidates. — Grant is re- 
elected. — Character of Cireeley. — His death. — Great fire in Bcston. — The Modoc war. — 
Murder of the peace commissioners. — The savages are subdued. — The Loui-siana im- 
broglio. — The Credit Mobilier investigation. — The financial crisis of 1873-'74. — The 
Northern Pacific Railroad enterprise. — Admission of Colorado. — Death-roll of emi- 
nent men. — Sketches of Sumner and Wilson. — The great Centennial. — Origination of 
the enterprise. — U|iposition. — (General plan of the Exposition. — Organization. — The 
monetary man.agement. — Lukewarmness of theGovernment. — The Centennial (irounds. 
— Dedication. — The General Regulations. — Nations participating. — Clussitication of 
products. — The Centennial Buildings. — Descriptions of the same. — Main Building. — 
Memorial Hall. — Machinery Hall. — Agricultural Hall. — Horticultural Hall. — United 
States Government Building. — Woman's Pavilion. — Foreign and State Buildings. — Re- 
ception of materials. — Scheme of Awards. — Opening ceremonies. — The Exposition 
itself. — Description of exhibits in Main Building. — In Macliinery Hall. — In the Gov- 



CONTENTS. xxxiii 

ernraent Building. — In Agricultural Hall. — In Horticultural Hall. — lu the Woman's 
Pavilion. — In Memorial Hall — Tlie celebration of the Fourth of July in Philadel- 
phia. — Attendance at the Exposition. — The closing ceremonies. — The Sioux War. 
— The great election of 1876. — A disputed presidency. — The result. . 553-633 

CHAPTER LXIX. 

Hayes's administration. 

Sketch of President Hayes. — His inaugural address. — The policy indicated. — 
Eflfect of the same upon the country. — The new cabinet is organized. — The great 
Railroad Strilie breaks out. — And is suppressed. — Beginning of the Nez Perce 
War. — The tribe is subdued by General Howard. — Silver is remonetized. — The 
Yellow Fever epidemic in the South. — The Halifax Fishery Commission. — How 
constituted. — The award. — A Chinese Embassy established in the United States. — 
A Life Saving Service is instituted by Congress. — Resumption of Specie Payments 
by the Government. — Issues of 1880.— Garfield elected President. — Refunding 
legislation. — Tour of Ex-President Grant. — Results of the Census of 1880. — Death 
of Senator Morton, William CuUen Bryant, Bayard Taylor, and Senators Chandler 
and Carpenter 633-646 

CHAPTER LXX. 

ADMINISTRATIONS OF GARFIELD AND ARTHUR. 

Sketch of President Garfield. — His inaugural. — The new cabinet. — Question 
of Civil Service Reform. — Break in the Republican Party. — Assassination of the 
President. — Accession of Arthur. — Sketch of the new executive. — Cabinet changes. 
— Star-Route conspiracy. — Applications of science. — The telephone. — The phono- 
graph. — The electric light. — The Brooklyn bridge. — Party questions of 1884. — 
The tariff issue. — Doctrine of free-trade. — Incidental protection. — Limited pro- 
tection. — Higli protection. — Prohibitory tariffs. — Presidential contest of 1884. — 
Election of Cleveland and Hendricks. — Transfer of the command of the army. — 
Tlie Washington Monument. 047-671 

CHAPTER LXXI. 

Cleveland's administration. 

Sketch of President Cleveland. — The new cabinet. — -Question of Civil Service 
Reform. — Struggle for office. — Revival of War memories. — Literature on the sub- 
ject. — Death of General Grant. — Of General McClellan. — Of General Hancock. — 
Of General Logan. — Of Vice-President Hendricks. — Of Horatio Seymour. — Of 
Samuel J. Tilden. — Of Henry Ward Beccher. — Of Chief-Justice Waite. — Historical 
sketch of the Supreme Court. — Appointment of Melville W. Fuller. — Death of 
Roscoe Conkling. — His life and character. — The labor agitations and strikes of 
1886-88. — The Hay-market riot in Chicago. — The Charleston earthquake.— The 
Forty-ninth Congress. — Question of extending the Pension list. — The Interstate 
Commerce Bill. — Political excitements of 1888. — Questions at issue. — Protection 
to American Industry. — Attitude of tlie Parties. — Nominations for the Presidency. 
— The result. — Admission of South and North Dakota, Montana, and Washington. — 
Institution of the Department of Agriculture. .... 672-695 

3 



xxxiv CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER LXXII. 

HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 

Sketch of Prcsifleiit Harrison. — His cabinet. — (Centenary of the American 
Government. — Crises of the Uevohitiouary Epocli. — Declaration of Independence. 
— Formation of the Constitution. — Its adoption. — Institution of the Government 
in 1?&9. — Sketch of the ceremonies of Wasliington's Inauguration. — His journey 
to New York.— His reception. — Character of New York in 1789. — Inaugural pro- 
gramme prepared liy Congress. — The Wasliingtonian jirocession. — The Inauguration 
proper. — First policy of the Government. — The Centennial commemoration of 
1889. — Preparations for the event. — The tlirong in New York. — Coming of Pres- 
ident Harrison and his company. — Decoration of the city. — Receptions of the 
Presidential Party, Literary Exercises. — Whittier's Poem and Depew's oration. — 
The Military Paiadc. — Features of the great Procession. — Sketch of the various 
divisions. — Metropolitan Banquets. — The Civic parade. — Its historical features. — 
Management of the throngs. — Difficulty with Germany relative to Samoa. — Causes 
of the controversy. — Wreck of the American and German fleets. — The Embassy to 
Berlin. — Conclusion. ......... (i96-72.'> 

CHAPTER LXXIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

The outlook for the Republic. — Byron's view of nations. — The hopeful side. — 
Present achievements of the United States. — Natural advantages. — How the Saxon 
has improved them. — Things necessary to the perpetuity of American institutions: 
First, National Unity. — Seajiitl, Universal Education. — Third, Toleration. — Fourt/i, 
The Nobility of Laljor.— Reflections 726-729 



APPENDIXES. 



Appendix A. — Mandeville's Argument 730 

Appendi.^ B. — Franklin's Constitution 734 

Appendix C. — Declaration of Independence 736 

Appendix D. — Articles of Confederation 739 

Appendix E. — Constitution of the United States 745 

Appendix F. — AVashington's Farewell Address 756 

Appendix G. — The Emancipation Proclamation 766 



Vocabulary 768 

Index 771 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Front view of llie Capitol Frontispiece. 

Map of Aboriginal America 44 

Diagram of European Kinship 45 

Diagram of Indian Kinship 4G 

Specimen of Indian Writing 48 

A North American Indian 49 

Norse Explorations 52 

A Norse Sea King of the lllli Ceiitur-y 53 

Christopher Columbus 55 

Chart of Voyage and Discovery 5(j 

The Night of October 11, 1492 56 

Fernando Cortez 69 

Burial of De Soto 66 

Dining Hall of the French Colonists at Port Royal 73 

Map of Voyage of Discovery 76 

Baptism of Virginia Dare 83 

Map of English Grants 86 

The Mayflower at Sea 90 

Captain John Smith 96 

John Smith Among ihe Indians 99 

Jamestown and Vicinity 103 

Wives for the Settlers at Jamestown Ill 

Governor Berkeley and the Insurgents 120 

Chart of the Colonial Period 122 

The Treaty between Governor Carver and Massasoit 124 

John Wintlirop 127 

Roger Williams's Reception by the Indians 129 

Early Settlements in New FJngland '. 131 

First Scene of King Philip's War 140 

Second Scene of King Philip's War 141 

Tliird Scene of King Philip's War "..... 143 

Death of King Philip 144 

Siege of Louisburg, 1745 158 

Sir Henry Hudson 161 

De Vries Revisits his Ruined Settlement 164 

French, English, Dutch, Swedish, and Spani.sh Provinces, 1655 168 

Peter Stuyvesant 171 

Roger Williams Opposing the Pequot Emissaries 185 

Scene of the Pequod War 187 

The Younger Winthrop 190' 

The Old Stone Tower at Newport 195 

East and West Jersey, 1677 205- 

XXXV 



xxxvi ILLUSTRATION'S. 

PASK 

Peaii's Colonists on the Delaware 209 

Wiliiain Penn 211 

Philadelphia and Vicinity 213 

Lord Baltimore 217 

James Oglethorpe 239 

Country of the Savannah, 1740 242 

Scene in St. Augustine 242 

Marquette and Joliet Discover the Mississippi 247 

First Scene of the French and Indian War, 1750 253 

Scene of Braddock's Defeat, 1755 260 

Fall of Braddook 260 

The Acadian Isthmus, 1755 262 

The Exile of the Acadians 263 

Vicinity of Lake George, 1755 265 

Viciuily of Quebec, 1759 274 

General James Wolfe 275 

Tlie Revehation of Pontiac's Conspiracy 278 

Tlie Old Thirteen Colonies 281 

Patrick Henry 290 

Samuel Adams 295 

Scene of the Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775 300 

Siege of Boston, 1776 306 

Chart of the Revolution and Confederation 306 

Battle of Long Island, 1776 311 

Scene of Operations about New York, 1776 314 

Battles of Trenton and Princeton, 1776-77 316 

Scene of Burgoyne's Invasion, 1777 323 

Encampment at Valley Forge, 1777-78 327 

Benjamin Franklin 330 

Siege of Cliarleston, 1780 340 

Scene of Operations in the South, 1780-Sl 342 

Scene of Arnold's Treason, 1 780 344 

General Greene 351 

Siege of Yorktown, October. 1781 353 

Map of the United States at the Clo.se of the Eevolutiou 354 

Alexander Hamilton 359 

George Wasliington 36:'. 

Chart of the National Period — First Sectidu 36+ 

John Adams 372 

Tiiomas Jeflfer-son 377 

Inauguration of the Territorial ( Jovernment at Marietta, Ohio 378 

Chief-Justice Marshall 380 

Robert Fulton 386 

James Madison 389 

Scene of Hull's Campaign, 1812 394 

The Niagara Frontier, 1812 399 

Scene of the Creek War, 1813-14 403 

La Fayette 423 

Chart of the National Period — Second Section 424 

Andrew Jack.son 427 

Daniel Webster 429 



ILLUSTRATIONS. xxxvii 

PAGE 

Land of the Semiuoles 431 

The New Patent-Office at Washington 433 

Bunker Hill Monument 443 

Professor Morse 446 

Texas and Coaliuila, 1845 448 

Scene of Taylor's Campaign, 1 846-47 449 

Fremont on the Rocky Mountains 452 

Scene of Scott's Campaign, 1 847 454 

General Winfield Scott 457 

Tlie Smithsonian Institution 460 

Overland to California, 1849. (Pass of the .Sierras) 460 

President Taylor 463 

Henry Clay 4G5 

John C. Calhoun 468 

General Sam Houston 477 

Washington Irving 478 

Alexander H. Stephens 481 

Abraham Lincoln 483 

Cliart of the National Period — Third Sectiou 489 

Scene of Operations in West Virginia, 1861 490 

Vicinity of Manassas Juuctiou, 1861 491 

Jefferson Davis 492 

Scene of Operations in the South-west, 1861 493 

William H. Seward 495 

Battle of Murfreesboroiigh, December 31, 1862 500 

Battle of Murfreesborough, January 2, 1863 501 

Scene of Campaign in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, 1862 503 

General Robert E. Lee 504 

Vicinity of Richmond, 1862 505 

The Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862 507 

Tlie Proposed Routes from Washington to Richmond, 1862 608 

Vicksburg and .Vicinity, 1863 512 

Battle of Chickamanga, September 19, 20, 1863 514 

Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, November 23-25, 1863 515 

Stonewall Jackson 519 

Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863 520 

Sherman's Campaign, 1 864 525 

General Thomas 527 

General Sherman 528 

Admiral Farragut 631 

Operations in Virginia, 1 864-65 635 

Petersburg, Richmond, Appomattox, 1865 539 

Map of the United States, 1876 546 

C lief-Justice Chase 551 

President Grant 552 

Map of the Territorial Growth of the United States 556 

Horace Greeley 558 

Cliarles Sumner 562 

Independence Hall, 1876 563 

General Joseph R. Hawley 666 

Centennial Medal — Obverse 587 



xxxviii ILLUSTBATIONa. 

PAOR 

Centennial Medal — Reverse 5(17 

Tbe Centennial Grounds and Buildings 5G9 

Main Exposition Building, Centennial Exliibition 576 

Memorial Hnll, " " 579 

Machinery Hall, " " 581 

Agricultural Hall, " " 583 

Horliciiltural Hall, " " 585 

U. S. Government Building, " " 587 

Woman's Pavilion, " " 589 

Inaugural Ceremonies ol" the Centennial Exhibition 593 

Alfred T. Goshoru 595 

View in the Main Exhibition Building 597 

Interior View of Machinery Hall .... 607 

Interior View of the United States Government Btiilding 613 

Interior View of Agricultural Hall 616 

Interior View of Horticultural Hall 621 

Rotunda of Memorial Hall 623 

Scetie of the Sioux War, 187G 629 

Sioux Indians in Battle with limigrauts 629 

Rtithcrford B. Hayes 633 

James A. Garfield 647 

Chester A. Arthur 652 

Tlie Telephone 655 

Brooklyn Bridge 061 

Philip H. Sheridan 67 1 

Grover Cleveland 07 2 

Thotuas F. Bayard 673 

Tliomas A. Hendricks 674 

George B. McClellan 674 

Ambrose E. Enrnside 675 

Jo-^eph Hooker , 075 

Wintield Scott Hancock 676 

George G. Meade 677 

John A. IiOgan 679 

Samuel J. Tilden 680 

Henry Ward Beecher 681 

Morrison R. Waite 682 

Roscoe Conkling . 685 

Bctijamin Harrison 696 

James G. Blaine 697 

Old Federal Hall, 1789 702 

I iiaiiguration of Washington 707 

Old St. Paul's Chapel 709 

Sub-Treasury Btiilding in Wall Street 714 

John M. Schofield 718 

Memorial Arch in AVashington Square 719 



INTRODUCTION. 



1. The history of every nation is divided into periods. For 
a while the genius of a people will be turned to some particular pur- 
suit. Men will devote themselves to certain things and labor to ac- 
complish certain results. Then the spirit of tlie age will change, and 
historical facts will assume a different character. Thus arises what is 
called A Period in History. In studying the history of the United 
States it is of the Urst importance to understand the periods into which 
it is divided. 

2. First of all, there was a time when the New World was under 
the dominion of the aborigines. From ocean to ocean the copper-col- 
ored children of the woods ruled with undisputed sway. By bow and 
arrow, by flint and hatchet, the Red man sujiported his rude civiliza- 
tion and waited for the coming of the pale-faced races. 

3. After the discovery of America, the people of Europe wei-e 
hundreds of years in making themselves acquainted with the shape and 
character of the New World. During that time explorers and adven- 
turers went everywhere and settled nowhere. To make new discov- 
eries was the universal passion ; but nobody cared to plant a colony. 
As long as this spirit prevailed, historical events bore a common char- 
acter, being produced by common causes. Hence arose the second pe- 
riod in our history — the Period of Voyage and Discovery. 

4. As soon as the adventurers had satisfied themselves with trac- 
ing sea-coasts, ascending rivers and scaling mountains, they began to 
form permanent settlements. And each settlement was a new State in 
the wilderness. Every voyager now became ambitious to plant a col- 
ony. Kings and queens grew anxious to confer their names on the 
towns and commonwealths of the New World. Thus arose a third pe- 
riod — the Period of Colonial History. 

(xzzix) 



3j1 introduction. 

5. Then the colonies grew strong and multiplied. There were 
thirteen little sea-shore republics. The people began to consult about 
their privileges and to talk of" the rights of freemen. Oppression on 
the part of the mother-country was met with resistance, and tyranny 
with defiance. There was a revolt against the king; and the patriots 
of the different colonies fought side by side, and won their freedom. 
Then they built them a Union, strong and great. This is the Period 
of Revolution and Confederation. 

6. Then the United States of America entered upon their career 
as a nation. Three times tried by war and many times vexed with 
civil dissensions, the Union of our fathers still remains for us and for 
posterity. Such is the Period of Nationality. 

7. Collecting these results, we find five distinctly marked peri- 
ods in the history of our country : 

First. The Aboriginal Period ; from remote antiquity to the 
coming of the White men. 

Second. The Period of Voyage and Discovery; A. D. 
986-1607. 

Third. The Colonial Period; A. D. 1607-1775. 

Fourth. The Period of Revolution and Confederation; 
A. D. 1775-1789. 

Fifth. The National Period; A. D. 1789-1888. 

In this order the History of the United States will be presented 
in the following pages. 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



PART I. 

ABORIGINAL AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE RED MEN— ORIGIN, DISTRIBUTION, CHARACTER. 

THE primitive inhabitants of the New World were the Red men 
called Indians. The name Indian was conferred upon them from 
their real or fancied resemblance to the people of India. But without 
any such similarity the name would have been the same; for Colum- 
bus and liis followers, believing that they had only rediscovered the 
Indies, would of course call the inhabitants Indians. The supposed 
similarity between the two races, if limited to mere personal appearance, 
had some foundation in fact; but in manners, customs, institutions, 
and character, no two peoples could be more dissimilar than the Amer- 
ican aborigines and the sleepy inhabitants of China and Japan. 

The origin of the North American Indians is involved in com- 
plete obscurity. That they are one of the older races of mankind can 
not be doubted. But at what date or by what route they came to tlie 
Western continent is an unsolved problem. Many theories have been 
proposed to account for the Red man's presence in the New World, 
but most of them have been vague and unsatisfactory. The notion that 
the Indians are the descendants of tlie Israelites is absurd. That half 
civilized tribes, wandering from beyond the Euphrates, should reach 
North America, surpasses human credulity. That Europeans or Afri- 
cans, at some remote period, crossed the Atlantic by voyaging from is- 
land to island, seems altogether improbable. That the Kamtchatkans, 
wnning by wav of Beh ring's Strait, reached the frozen North-west and 



42 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

became the progenitors of the Red men, has no evidence otlier than 
conjecture to .support it. Until furtiier research shall throw additional 
lig-ht on the history and migrations of the primitive races of mankind, 
tlie origin of the Indians will remain shrouded in mystery. It is not 
unlikely that a more tliorough knowledge of the North American lan- 
sjuages may furnish a clue to the early history of the tribes that spoke 
them. 

The Indians belong to the Gfutointnkin, or Bow-and-Arrow 
family of men. Some races cultivate the soil; others have herds and 
flocks ; others build cities and ships. To the Red man of the Western 
continent the chase was every thing. Without the chase he pined and 
languished and died. To smite with swift arrow the deer and the bear 
was the chief delight and profit of the primitive Americans. Such a 
race could live only in a country of woods and wild animals. The il- 
limitable hunting-grounds — forest, and hill, and river — were the In- 
dian's earthly paradise, and the type of his home hereafter. 

The American alxirigines belonged to several distinct families or 
nations. Above the si.xticth j)arallel of latitude the whole continent 
from Labrador to Alaska was inhabited by the Esquimaux. The name 
means (he eaterti of raw ine((t. They lived in snow huts, or in hovels, 
partly or wholly underground. Sometimes their houses were more ar- 
tistically constructed out of the bones of whales and walruses. Their 
manner of life was that of fishermen and hunters. They clad them- 
selves in winter with the skins of seals, and in summer with those of 
reindeers. Inured to cold and exposure, they made long journeys in 
sledges drawn by dogs, or risked their lives in open boats fighting 
with whales and polar bears among the terrors of the icebergs. By 
eating abundantly of oils and fat meats they kept the fires of life 
a-l)urning, even amid the rigors and desolations of the Arctic winter. 

Lying south of the Esquimaux, embracing the greater part of 
Canada and nearly all that portion of the United States east of the 
Mississippi and north of the thirty-seventh parallel of latitude, 
si>read the great family of the ALfioXQUiXS. It appears that their 
original scat was on the Ottawa River. At the beginning of the sev- 
enteenth century the Algonquins numbered fully a quarter of a million. 
The tribes of this great family were nomadic in their habits, roaming 
from one hunting-ground and river to another, according to the exi- 
gencies of fishing and the chase. Agriculture was but little esteemed. 
They were divided into many subordinate tribes, each having its local 
name, dialect, and traditions. When the first European settlements 
were planted the Algonquin race was already declining in numbers 



ABORIGINAL AMERICA. 4.3 

aiul influence. Wasting diseases destroyed whole tribes. Of all the 
Indian nations the Algonquins suffered most from contact with the 
White man. Before his aggressive spirit, his fiery rum, and his de- 
structive weapons, the warriors were unable to stand. The race has 
withered to a shadow; only a few thousands remain to rehearse the 
story of their ancestors. 

Within the wide territory occupied by the Algonquins lived the 
powerful nation of the Huron-Iroquois. Their domain extended 
over the country reaching from Georgian Bay and Lake Huron to 
Lakes Erie and Ontario, south of those lakes to the valley of the Up- 
per Ohio, and eastwai'd to the River Sorel. Within this extensive dis- 
trict was a confederacy of vigorous tribes, having a common ancestry, 
and generally — though not always — acting together in war. At the 
time of their greatest ])o\ver and influence the Huron-Iroquois em- 
braced no less than nine allied nations. These were the Hurons 
proper, living north of Lake Erie; the Erics and Andastes, south of 
the same water; the Tuscaroras, of Carolina, who ultimately joined 
their kinsmen in the North; the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Onei- 
das, and Mohawks, constituting the famous Five Nations of New York. 
The warriors of tliis great confederation presented the Indian character 
in its most favorable aspect. They were brave, patriotic, and eloquent; 
not wholly averse to useful industry; living in respectable villages; 
tilling the soil with considerable success; faithful as friends but terri- 
ble as enemies. 

South of the country of the Algonquins were the Cherokees 
and THE MoBiLiAN Nations; the former occupying Tennessee, and 
the latter covering the domain between the Lower Mississippi and the 
Atlantic. The Cherokees were highly civilized for a primitive peo- 
ple, and contact with the whites seemed to improve rather than 
degrade them. The principal tribes of the Mobilians were the Ya- 
massees and Creeks of Georgia, the Seminoles of Florida, and the 
Choetaws and Chickasaws of Mississippi. These displayed the usual 
characteristics of the Red men, with this additional circumstance, that 
below the thirty-second parallel of latitude evidences of temple-build- 
ing, not practiced among the Northern tribes, began to ajipear. 

West of the Father of Waters was the great and widely-spread 
race of the Dakotas, whose territory extended from the Arkansas 
River to the country of the Esquimaux and westward to the Rocky 
Mountains. Their languages and institutions, differing much among 
the various tribes, are not so well understood as tliose of some other 
nations. South of the land of the Dakotas, in a district nearly cor- 



44 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

responding with the present State of Texas, lived the wild Coman- 
CHES, whose very name is a synonym for savage ferocity. Beyond the 
Rocky Mountains were the Indian nations of the Plains; the great 
family of the Shoshonees, the Selish, the Klamaths, and the 
Californians. On the Pacific slojje farther southward dwelt in for- 
mer times the famous races of Aztecs and Toltecs. These were the 
most civilized of the primitive Indian nations, but at the same time 
among the most feeble ; the best builders in wood and stone, but the 
least warlike of any of the aborigines. Such is a brief sketch of the 
distribution of the copper-colored race in the New World. The ter- 
ritorial position of the various nations and tribes will be easily under- 
stood from an examination of the accompanying map. 

The Indians were strongly marked with national peculiarities. 
The most striking characteristic of the race was a certain sense of per- 
sonal independence — tviUfnlne.'^s of action — freedom from restraint. To 
the Red man's imagination the idea of a civil authority wliich should 
subordinate his passions, curb his will, and thwart his purposes, was 
intolerable. Among this people no common enterprise was possible 
unless made so by the concurrence of free wills. If the chieftain 
entered the war-path, his kinsmen and the braves of other tribes fol- 
lowed him only because they chose his leadership. His authoritv and 
right of command extended no further than to be foremost in danger, 
most cunning in savage strategy, bravest in battle. So of all the 
relations of Indian life. The Medicine Man was a self-constituted 
physician and prophet. No man gave him his authority ; no man took 
it away. His right was his own ; and his influence depended upon 
himself and the voluntary respect of the nation. In the solemn de- 
bates of the Council House, where the red orators pronounced their 
wild harangues to groups of motionless listeners, only questions of 
expediency were decided. The painted sachems never thought of 
imposing on the unwilling minority the decision which had been 
reached in council. 

Next among the propensities of the Red men was the passion 
for war. Their wars, however, were always undertaken for the re- 
dress of grievances, real or imaginary, and not for conquest. But 
■with the Indian, a redress of grievances meant a personal, vindictive, 
and bloody vengeance on the offender. The Indian's principles of 
war were easily understood, but irreconcilable with justice and hu- 
manity. The forgiveness of an injury was reckoned a weakness and 
a shame. Revenge was considered among the nobler virtues. The 
open, honorable battle of the field was an event unknown in Indian 




DISTRIBUTIOX ASD TEKRITOKTAL LIMITS 
— op — 



^^e INDIAN NAT\0^^' 

IN THE NEW WORLD. 

SfAI.K <ip MILE' 



V 




West 35 from Greenwich 



ABORIGINAL AMERICA. 



45 



wartare. Fighting- was limited to tiie surprise, the ambuscade, the 
massacre ; and military strategy consisted of cunning and treachery. 
Quarter was rarely asked, and never granted ; those who were spared 
from the fight were only reserved for a barbarous captivity, ransom, 
or the stake. In the torture of his victims all the diabolical ferocity 
Df the savage warrior's nature burst forth without restraint. 

In times of peace the Indian character shone to a better advan- 
tage. But the Red man was, at his best estate, an unsocial, solitary, 
and gloomy spirit. 
He was a man of 
the woods. He 
communed only 
with himself and 
the genius of sol- 
itude . He sat 
apart. The forest 
was better than 
his wigwam, and 
his wigwam bet- 
ter than the vil- 
lage. The Indian 
woman was a de- 
graded creature, a 
drudge, a beast 
of burden ; and 
the social prin- 
ciple was cor- 
respondingly low. 
The organizatii)n 
of the Indian fam- 
ily was so peculiar 
as to require a special consideration. Among civilized nations the 
family is so constructed that the lines of kinship diverge constantly 
from the line of descent, so that collateral kinsmen with each gen- 
eration stand at a still greater remove from each other. The alcove 
diagram will serve to show how in a European family the lines of 
consanguinity diverge until the kinship becomes so feeble as to be no 
longer recognized. It will be observed that this fact of constant di- 
vergence is traceable to the establishment of a male line of descent. 

In the Indian family all tiiis is reversed. The descent is es- 
tablished in the female line; and as a consequence the ties of kinship 




DIAGRAM OF EUROPEAN KINSHIP. 



46 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



converge upon each other until they all meet in the granddaughter. 
That is, in the aboriginal nations of North America, every grandson 
and granddaughter was the grandson and granddaughter of the whole 
tril)e. This arose from the fact that all the uncles of a given person 
were reckoned as his fathers also ; all the mother's sisters were mothers; 
all the cousins were sisters and brothers; all the nieces were daugh- 
ters; all the nephews, sons, etc. This peculiarity of the Indian famil) 
organization is illustrated in the annexed diagram. 

Civil government 
among the Indian na- 
tions was in its primi' 
tive stages of develop' 
mcnt. Each tribe had 
its own sachem, or 
chieftain, to whom in 
matters of peace and 
war a tolerable degree 
of obedience was ren- 
dered. At times con- 
federations were form- 
ed, based either on ties 
of kinship or the exi- 
gencies of war. But 
these confederations 
were seldom enduring, 
and were likely at any 
time to be broken up 
by the barbarous pas- 
sion and insubordina- 
tion of the tribes who 
composed them. Sometimes a sachem would arise with such marked 
abilities, warlike prowess, and strength of will, as to gain an influence, 
if not a positive leadership over many nations. But with the deatli of 
the chieftain, or sooner, each tribe, resuming its independence, would 
return to its own ways. No general Indian Congress was known ; but 
national and tribal councils were frequently called to debate (piestions 
of policy and right. 

In matters of religion the Indians were a superstitious race, but 
seldom idolaters. They believed in a great spirit, eveiy where present, 
ruling the elements, showing favor to the obedient, and punishing the 
sinful. Him they worshiped; to him they sacrificed. But not in tem- 




DIAGRAM OF INDIAN KINSHIP. 



ABORIGINAL AMERICA. 4.1 

pies, for the Indians built none. They also believed in many subordi- 
nate spirits — some good, some bad. Both classes frequented the earth. 
The bad spirits brought evil dreams to the Indian ; diseases also, bad 
passions, cruel winters, and starvation. The good spirits brouglit sun- 
shine, peace, plentiful harvests, all the creatures of the chase. The 
Medicine Man, or Propliet, obtained a knowledge of these tilings b_> 
fasting and prayer, and tiien made revelations of the will and purposec 
of the spirit world. The religious ceremonies of the Indians were per- 
formed with great earnestness and solemn formality. 

In the matter of the arts tlie Indian was a barbarian. His house 
was a wigwam or hovel. Some poles set up in a circle, converging at 
the top, covered with skins and the branches of trees, lined and some- 
times floored with mats, a fire in the center, a low opening opposite 
the point from which the wind blew — such was the aboriginal abode 
of North America. Indian utensils were few, rude, and primitive. 
Poorlv-fashioned earthen pots, bags and pouches for carrying provis- 
ions, and stone hammers for pounding parched corn, were the stock 
and store. A copper kettle was a priceless treasure. The warrior's 
chief implement was his hatcliet of stone or copper. This he always 
carried with him, and it was rarely free from the stain of blood. His 
weapon of offence and defence was the bow and arrow, by no means 
an insignificant or feeble instrument. The arrow pointed with stone 
or iron was frequently driven cudirlt/ through the ponderous buffalo. 
The range of the winged missile was two hundred yards or more, and 
the aim was one of fatal accuracy when the White man was the tar- 
get. The Indian's clothing was a blanket, thrown over his shoulders, 
bound around him perhai>s with a thong of leather. The material for 
his moccasins * and leggins was stripped from the red buck, elk, or 
buffalo. He was fond of hanging about his person an infinity of non- 
sensical trappings ; fangs of rattlesnakes, claws of hawks, feathers of 
eagles, bones of animals, scalps of enemies. He painted his face and 
body, specially when the passion of war was on him, with all manner 
of glaring and fantastic colors. So tlie Prophet of his nation taught 
him; so he would be terrible to his enemies; so he would exemplify 
the peculiarities of his nation and be unlike the Pale face. All the 
higher arts were wanting. Indian writing consisted only of quaint 
and half-intelligible hieroglyphics rudely scratched on the face of 
rocks or cut in the bark of trees. The artistic sense of the savage 
could rise no higher than a coarse necessity compelled the flight. 

The language spoken by a peojjle is always a matter of special 

* Tlie Algonquin word is makmn. 



48 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 




SPECIMEN OF INDIAN WRITING. 



Translation: Eight soldiers (9), with musliets (10), commanded by a cap- 
tain (1), and accompanied by a secretary (2), a geologist (3), three attend- 
ants (4, 5, 6), and two Indian guides, encamped here. They had three 
camp fires (13, 14, 1.5), and ate a turtle and a prairie hen (11, 12), for supper. 



interest anil importance. Tlie dialects of the North American races 
bear many and evident marks of resemblance among themselves; but 
little or no analogy to tiie languages of other nations. If there is any 
similarity at all, it is tbund between the Indian tongues and those 

sjwken by the 
nomadic races 
of Asia. The 
vocaljulary of 
the Red men 
was a very 
limited one. 
The principal 
objects of na- 
ture had spec- 
ial names, and 
actions were 
likewise spe- 
cifically e X - 
j)re.ssed. Ab- 
stract ideas but 
rarely f o u n d 
expression in 

any of the Indian languages ; such ideas could only be expressed by 
a long and labored circumlocution. Words had a narrow but very 
intense meaning. There was, for in.stance, no general word signify- 
ing to hunt or to fish ; but one word signified " to-kill-a-deer-with-an- 
arrow;" another, " to-take-fish-by-.striking-the-ice." In mo.st of the 
dialects there was no word for brother; but "elder-brother" and 
" younger-brother " could be expressed. Among many of the tribes 
the meanings of words ami phrases were so restricted that the war- 
rior would use one set of terms and the squaw another to express 
the .same ideas. The languages were monosyllabic; but many of the 
mono.syllables might be combined to form compounds resembling the 
poly.syllables of European tongues. These compounds, ex])ressing ab- 
stract and difficult ideas, were sometimes inordinately long,* the whole 
forming an explanation or flescripfion of the thing rather than a sin- 
gle word. Scholars have applied the term agylutinative to those lan- 
guages in which such labored and tedious forms of expression occur. 
Of this sort are the tongues spoken by the nomadic races of A.sia. 

*' For instance, in the Massachusetts dialect, the form of speecli nie.iniirg "o«r qvxaf 
Hon" was this: Kum-moe-ko-don-at-toot-tum-raoo-et-it-e-a-ong-an-iiun-non-ash. 



ABORIOIXAL AMERICA. 



49 



In personal appearance the Indians were strong/y marked. In 
stature they were nearly all below the average of Europeans. The 
Esquimaux are rarely live feet high, hut are generally thick-set and 
heavy. The Algonquins are taller and lighter in build; a straight auc' 
agile race, lean and 



^!wift of foot, 
jet-black and 



en ; 
straight 




Eyes 
sunk- 
hair black and 
beard black 
and scant; skin 
copper-colored, a red- 
dish-black, cin- 
namon-hued, brown ; 
high cheek bones ; 
forehead and skull 
variable in shape and 
proportion; hands 
and feet small ; body 
lithe but not strong; 
expression sinister, or 
rarely dignified and 
noble : — these are the 
well-known features 
and person of the 
Indian. 

Though gener- 
ally sedate in man- 
^lers and serious in 
behavior, the Red men at times gave themselves up to merry-making 
and hilarity. The dance was universal — not the social dance of civ- 
ilized nations, but the dance of ceremony, of religion, and of war. 
Sometimes the warriors danced alone, but frequently the women joined 
in the wild exercise, circling around and around, chanting the weird, 
monotonous songs of the tribes. Many other amusements were com-^ 
mon, such as running, leaping, wrestling, shooting at a mark, racing 
in canoes along swift rivers or placid lakes, playing at ball, or en- 
gaging in intricate and exciting games, performed with small stones 
resembling checkers cr dice. To this latter sport was not unfre- 
quently added the intoxication of gambling, in which the warriors, 
under the influence of their fierce passion, would often hazard and 

* An authentic portrait of the celebrated Black Hawk, chief of the Sacs and Foxes. 
4 



A NORTH A5IERICAN ItlDIAN. ■ 



60 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

lose their entire possessions. In soberer moments, the Red men, 
never inclined to conversation, would sit in silence, communing each 
with his own thoughts or lost in a dream under the fascination of 
his pipe. The use of tobacco was universal and excessive; and after 
the introduction of intoxicating liquors by the Europeans the Indi- 
ans fell into terrible drunkenness, only limited in its extent bv the 
amount of sjiirits which they could procure. It is doubtful whether 
any other race has been so awfully degraded by drink. 

Such is a brief sketch of tiic Red man — who wax rather than is. 
The only hope of the perpetuity of his race seems now to center in 
the Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks and Chickasaws of the Indian Ter- 
ritory. These nations, numbering in the aggregate about forty-eight 
thousand souls, have attained a considerable degree of civilization ; 
and with just and liberal dealing on the part of the Government the 
outlook for the future is not discouraging. Most of the other Indian 
tribes seem to be rapidly approaching extinction. Right or wrong, 
such is the logic of events. Whether the Red man has been justly 
deprived of the ownership of the New World will remain a subject 
of debate ; that he has been deprived, can be none. The Saxon has 
come. His conquering foot has trodden the vast domain from shore to 
shore. The weaker race has withered from his presence and s^vord. 
By the majestic rivers and in the depths of the solitary woods the 
feeble sons of the Bow and Arrow will be seen no more. Only their 
names remain on hill and stream and mountain. The Red man sinks 
and fails. His eyes are to the West. To the prairies and forests, the 
hunting-grounds of his ancestors, he says farewell. He is gone ! The 
cypress and the hemlock sing his requiem. 



PART II. 

YOTAGE AND DISCOTEEY. 

A. ». 9S6-1607. 



CHAPTER II. y^ 

THE ICELANDERS AND NORWEGIANS IN AMERICA. 

THE western continent was first seen l)y white men in A. D. 986. 
A Norse navigator by the name of Herjulfson, sailing from 
Iceland to Greenland, was caught in a storm and driven westward to 
Newfoundland or Labrador. Two or three times the shores were 
seen, but no landing was made or attempted. The coast was low, 
abounding in forests, and so different from the well-known cliffs of 
Greenland as to make it certain that another shore hitherto unknown 
Was in sight. On reaching Greenland, Herjulfson and his companions 
told wonderful stories of the new lands seen in the west. 

Fourteen years later, the actual discovery of America was made 
by Lief Eeickson. This noted Icelandic captain, resolving to know 
the truth about the country which Herjulfson had seen, sailed west- 
ward from Greenland, and in the spring of the year 1001 reached 
Labrador. Impelled by a spirit of adventure, he landed with his 
companions, and made explorations for a considerable distance along 
the coast. The country was milder and more attractive than his own, 
and he was in no haste to return. Southward he went as far as 
Massachusetts, where the daring company of Norsemen remained for 
more than a year. Rhode Island was also visited; and it is alleged 
that the hardy adventurers found their way into New York harbor. 

What has once been done, whether by accident or design, may 
easily be done again. In the years that followed Lief Erickson's dis- 
covery, other companies of Norsemen came to the shores of America. 
Thorwald, Lief 's brother, made a voyage to Maine and Massachu- 
setts in 1002, and is said to have died at Fall River in the latter state. 

(51) 



52 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Then another brother, Thorstei.v l)y name, arrived with a band of 
followers in 1005 ; and in the year 1007, Thorfinn Karlsefne, the 
most distinguislied mariner of his day, eame with a crew of a hnndred 
and tifty men, and made exi)lorations along the coast of Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, and per 



haps as tar south as the 
capes of Virginia. Other 
companies of Icelanders 
and Norwegians visited 
the countries fa r t h e r 
north, and planted col- 
onies in Newfoundland 
and Nova Scotia. Little, 
however, was known or 
imagined by these rude 
sailors of the extent of 
the country which they 
had discovered. They 
supposed that it was only 
a portion of Western 
Greenland, which, bend- 
insr to the north around 
an arm of the ocean, had 
reajjpeared in the west. 
The settlements which 
were made, were feeble and soon broken up. Commerce was au im- 
possibility in a country where there were only a few wretched savages 
with no disjOTsition to buy and nothing at all to sell. The spirit of 
adventure was soon appeased, and the restless Northmen returned to 
their own country. To this undefined line of coast, now vaguely 
known to them, the Norse sailors gave the name of Vinland; and 
the old Icelandic chroniclers insist that it was a pleasant and beauti- 
ful country. As compared with their own mountainous and frozen 
island of tl"; North, the coasts of New England may well have seemed 
delightful. 

The men who thus first visited the shores of the New World 
were a race of hardy adventurers, as lawless and restless as any that 
ever sailed the deep. Their mariners and soldiers penetrated every 
clime. The better parts of France and England fell under their do- 
minion. All the monarchs of the latter country after William the 
Conqueror — himself the grandson of a sea-king — are descendants of 




NORSE EXPLOEATIONS. 



VOYAGE AND DISCO VEEK 



the Norsemen. They were rovers of the sea; freebooters and pi- 
rates ; warriors audacious and headstrong, wearing hoods surmounted 
with eagles' wings and wah'uses' tusks, mailed armor, and for robes the 
skins of polar bears. AVoe to the people on whose defenceless coasts 
the sea-kings landed with sword and torch! Their wayward life and 
ferocious disposition are well portrayed in one of their own old bal- 

He scorns to rest 'neatli the smoky rafter, 

He plows with liis hoat the roaring deep; 
The billows boil and the storm howls after — 
But tlie tempest is only a thing of laughter, — 

The sea-king loves it better than sleep ! 

During the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries occa- 
sional voyages continued to be made; and it is said that as late as 
A. D. 1347 a Norwegian ship visited Labrador and the north-eastern 
parts of the United States. The Norse remains which have been 
found at Newport, at Garnet 
Point, and several other 
places seem to point clearly 
to some such events as are 
here described; and the Ice- 
landic historians give a uni- 
form and tolerably consistent 
account of these early ex- 
ploits of their countrymen. 
When the word America is 
mentioned in the hearing of 
the Icelandic schoolboys, they 
will at once answer, with en- 
thusiasm, "Oh, yes; Lief Er- 
ickson discovered that country 
in the year lOOL" 

An event is to be 
weighed by its consequences. 
From the discovery of Amer- 
ica by the Norsemen, nothing 
Mhatever resulted. The 
world was neither wiser nor better. Among the Icelanders themselves 
the place and the very name of Yinland were forgotten. Europe 
never heard of such a country or such a discovery. Historians have 
until late years been incredulous on the subject, and the fact is as 
though it had never been. The curtain which had been lifted for a 




A NORSE SEA-KING OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 



54 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

moment was stretched again fVorn sky to sea, and the New World 
still lay hidden in the shadows. * 



CHAPTER III. 

SPANISH DISCO VERIES IN AMERICA. 

TT wa.? reserved for the people of a sunnier clime than Iceland first to 
make known to the European nations the existence of a Western con- 
tinent. Spain was the happy country under whose auspicious patronage 
a new world was to be added to the old ; but the man who was destined 
to make the revelation was not himself a Spaniard : he was to come from 
genial Italy, the land of olden valor and the home of so much greatness. 
Christopher Columbus was the name of that man whom after ages 
have justly rewarded with imperishable fame. 

The idea that tbe world is round was not original with Columbus. 
Others before him had held a similar belief; but the opinion had been so 
feebly and uncertainly entertained as to lead to no practical results. 
Copernicus, the Prussian astronomer, had not yet taught, nor had Galileo, 
the great Italian, yet demonstrated, the true system of .the universe. The 
Englisli traveler. Sir John Mandeville, had declared in the very first 
English book that ever was written (A. D. 1.356) that the world is a 
sphere ; that he himself, when traveling northward, had seen the polar 
star approach the zenith, and that on going southward the antarctic con- 
stellations had risen overhead ; and that it was both possible and practicable 
for a man to sail around the world and return to the place of starting : 
but neither Sir John liiniself nor any other seaman of his times was bold 
enough to undertake so hazardous an enterprise. f Columbus was, 
no doubt, the first practical believer in the theory of circumnaviga- 
tion ; and although he never sailed around the world himself, he 
demonstrated the possibility of doing so. 

* Aa to the reality of the Norse discoveries in America, the following from Hum- 
boldt's Cosmos, Vol. II., pp. 269-272, may be cited as conclusive: "We are here on 
historical ground. By the critical and highly praiseworthy efforts of Professor Rafn 
and the Koyal Society of Antiquaries in Copenhagen, the Sagas and documents in 
regard to the expeditions of the Nor.semen to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and 
Vinland have been published and satisfactorily commented upon. * * *' * The dis- 
covery of the nm-lhem part cf Ametica by the Norsemen can not be disputed. The length 
of the voyage, tlie direction in which tliey sailed, the time of the sun's rising and 
setting, are accurately given. While the Caliphate of Bagdad was still flourisli- 
ing, * * * * America was discovered about the year A. D. 1000, by Lief, the son 
of Eric the Red, at the latitude of forty one and a-half degrees north." 

t See Appendix A. 



roVAGE AXD DISCO VEEY. 



55 



The great mistake with Cohimbus and others who shared his opinions 
"was not concerning tiie figure of the earth, lint in regard to its size. He 
believed the world to be no more than ten thousand or twelve thousand 
miles in circumference. He therefore confidently expected that after sail- 
ing about three thousand miles to the westward he should arrive at the 
East Indies ; and to do that was the one great purpose of his life. 

Christopher Columbus was born at Genoa, a .seacoast town of North- 
western Italy, in A.D.I 435. He was carefully educated, and then devoted 

himself to the sea. His 
ancestors had been sea- 
men before him. His 
own inclination as well 
as his early training 
made him a sailor. 
For twenty yeare he 
traversed the Mediter- 
ranean and the parts 
of the Atlantic adjacent 
to Europe; he visited 
Iceland ; tiien went to 
Portugal, and finally 
to Spain. The idea 
of reaching the Indies 
by crossing the Atlan- 
tic had already pos- 
sessed him. For more 
than ten years the poor 
enthusiast was a beg- 
gar, going from court 
to court, explaining to dull monarclis and bigoted monks the' figure of 
the earth and the ease with which the rich islands of the East might be 
reached by sailing westward. He found one appreciative listener, after- 
ward his constant and faithful friend — the noble and sympathetic Isa- 
bella, queen of Castile. Be it never forgotten that to the faith, and 
insight, and decision of a woman the final success of Columbus nmst be 
attributed. 

On the morning of the 3d day of August, 1492, Columbus, with 
his three ships, left the harbor of Palos. After seventy-one days of 
sailing, in the early dawn of October 12, Rodrigo Triana, who chanced 
to be on the lookout from the Pinta, set up a shout of " Land ! " A gun 
was fired as the signal. The ships lay to. There was music and jubilee; 




CHKKSTOPHEK COLUMBUS. 



66 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and just at sunrise Columbus himself first stepped ashore, shook out the 
royal lianner of Castile in the presence of the wondering natives, and 
named the island San Salvador. During the three remaining months 
of this first A-oyage the islands of Concepcion, Cuba and Hayti were 
added to the list of discoveries ; and on the bay of Caracola, in the last' 
named island, Mas erected out of the timbers of the Santa Maria a fort, 
the first structure built by Europeans in the New World. In the earlj 
part of January, 1493, Columbus sailed for Spain, where he arrived in 
March, and was everywhere greeted with rejoicings and ajiplause. 

In September of the following autumn Columbus sailed on his second 
voyage. He still believed that by this route westward he should reach, 
if indeed he had not already reached, the Indies. The result of the 
second voyage was tlie discovery of the Windward group and the islands 
of Jamaica and Porto Rico. It was at this time that the first colony was 
established in Hayti and Columbus's brother appointed governor. After 
an absence of nearly three years, Columbus returned to Spain in the sum- 
mer of 1496 — returned to find himself the victim of a thousand bitter 
jealousies and suspicions. All the rest of his life was clouded with perse- 
cutions and misfortunes. He made a third voyage, discovered the island 
of Trinidad and the mainland of South America, near the mouth of the 
Orinoco. Thence he sailed back to Hayti, where he found his colony 
disorganized ; and here, while attempting to restore order, he was seized 
by Bobadilla, an agent of the Spanish government, put in chains and car- 
ried to Spain. After a disgraceful imprisonment, he was liberated and 
sent on a fourth and last voyage in search of the Indies ; but besides 
making some explorations along the south side of the Gulf of INIexico, 
the expedition accomplished nothing, and Columbus, overwhelmed with 
discouragements, returned once more to his ungrateful country. The 
good Isabella was dead, and the great discoverer found himself at last a 
friendless and despised old man tottering into the grave. Death came, 
and fame afterward. 

Of all the Avrongs done to the memon' of Columbus, perhaps 
the greatest was that which robbed liim of the name of the new conti- 
nent. Tliis was bestowed ujton one of the least wortliy of the many 
adventurers whom the genius and success of Columbus had drawn to the 
West. In the year 1499, Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator 
of some daring but no great celebrity, reached the eastern coast of South 
America. It does not appear that his explorations there were of any 
great importance. Two years later he made a second voyage, and then 
hastened home to give to Europe the first jiublished account of the 
Western V'nrld. Vespucci's onlv merit consisted in his recognition of 



lOOO IIOO 



Cciitriil Poriod of 
the Middle Ages. 

•U. Courad II. 

Th 

99. 

35. Union of C 

3,1. Heiirv tbe 
Bla4-k. 

S6. Henry 

HOUSE OP CAPET IN 
FHANCE. 

17 Canute. 

40. Hardicau nte. 



1300 



52. Frederi 



80. T 



ck Barbaro8sa. 



e CRUSADES. 

Tlie Kingdom of Jerusalem established. 



astile and Leon. 

8. IiOllis \l. 
IV. 



20. IjOiiis IX. 



1300 



he Kingdi 



85. P hilip IV. 

16. Phili 



The difl'ereut Or ders of Knighthood establish< 



37. Louis VII. 

71. C'onq nest or Irelaual. 



80. Ph 



ilip II. 



28. HC 
V 



42. Edward ilhe Confessor, 

60. Harold. '^^' struggle of ttae Gnelphs and Ohibel lines, 

C6. William I 



87. 

DANISH KINGS IN 
ENGLAND. 



The NORMANS. 



3.5. Stephen. 
Williaiu RnTus. 



Henry I. 



54. Henry 

89. 
99. 



\¥ars of the Barons. 

15. 9Iagna Chartaj granted. 



II. 

Ricliard I. 
Jobii. 



The PLANTAGENETS. Heroic .4ge. 



72. Edward I. 

7. Ednard 
Wicl 

27. E« 



1. lEIF KRICKSON, an Icelandic 
navigator, sailing westward 
from Greenluuil, discovers 
tlie coast of Labrador, and 
makes explorations as far 
aoutli as Rhode Island. 

BJarne Herjnlfson driven 
by a storm witliin sight of 
the American coast A. D. 

9se. 

2. Thorwald Erickson re- 

turns to America and re- 
mains three years. 

5. Thorstein Erickson CO 

7. Ttaorfinn Karlsefne ex 

U. Expedition of Freydis 



THE WESTERN CONTINENT UNKNOWN 



21. Erik Vpsi sent as 



TO THE 



bishop to Vinlaud. 



<C AND%, 




AMERICA 



mes to America. 

plores the coast of Massachusetts. 

to Vinland. 

70. AllegC'l discovery of America by Madoc the VVels- 



UNDER 



THE ABORIGII 



€3ifTxVxvTt Xm 



Icelandic discoveries io green. 



PERIOD OF VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 

A. D. 986-1607. 



Spanish 


" yeUow. 


English 


" red. 


Feknch 


' " blue. 


Dutch 


' " broivn. 


POBTUODK-IE 


" purpU 



1400 



1300 



lOOO 



>f Jeru 


saleiu overtbrowii. 








as. Columbus 


boi'ii. 






15. Joliu Hhs.«*. 






First bo 


ok written in En^- 98. 


l)e Oama doubles the Cape 




liNh, iu 


which the author, SirJoliii 


of Good Hope and reaches 


48. Treaty of 


Miindevil 


le, declares the spherical 


the Kast Indies. 


Westphalia. 


ligure of 


the earth aud the practica- 


Liuther. 


bility of 


cireumiiavigation. 




80. Ch 


ariesvi. ^nntii.g 


Inbcntrl). 






11-31. Joan of Arc. 


The Keforiuat 


ion. 




•>2. Charles VII. 








61. L.onis 


XI. 




OF 




0. Johu Calvin. 




IS. 




72. St. Biirlliolomew. 


77. Bic 


bard II. 


r.. Francis I. [ 




Wars of the Roses. 


Ml. 

19. Chai'Ies V. 


Henry IV. 


T 


he LANCASTEES. 




10. Eonis XIII. 




74. Fcr 


diuaud and Isabella. 






The 


TUDOKS. 

The PURITANS. 


43.L>oiiis XIV 




&5.H 


enry VII. 


3. James I. 




The YOEKS. 


. Henry VIII. 




99. 


Henry IV. 
13. Henry V. 


47. Edward VI. 


25. Charles I. 




22. Henry VI. 


83. Mary. 


The STUARTS. 




61. Edward 


IV. 






x:;. E 


<lnard V. 5s Elizab 


eth. 


rd III. 


83. K 


■ ehard III. 






92. 


Columbus discovers the 


West Indies. 


3PEAN 


NATIONS. 


Second voyage. 
Tliird voyage. 






98. 


Discovers America. 




e great pi ague depopulates Iceland, ^^■ 
reenland, and Vinland : oommuni- 


Amerigo Vespucci makes 

12. DeEeon explores Flori 


a voyage to South America, 
da. 


ation with 


the New World is cut oflf. 


20. Cortez conquers Mex 
25. neAyllon in Caro 


ico. 
lina. 






28. I>e S; ar vaoz mak 


es explorations in Florida. 






3!i. Be Soto in Am 


erica. 






65. Melen 


dez founds St. Augustine. 




97. 


John Cabot discovers No 


rth America. 




98. 


Sebastian Cabot explores 


the American coast. 






78. Ma 


rtin Frobisher's voyages. 






79. »r 


ake on the Pacific coast. 






83. G 


jlbert's voyage. [tion. 


>mpany of 


Norsemen in America. 


K 


aleig^h's attempts at coloniza- 

2. 4>osnol<rs direct voyage. 

3. I>rin8;'s voyii<;e. 

7. Settlement at .lames! own 




77. Col 


umbus visits Iceland and 


s. Wayniontli in Maine. 




TRIBES. 


learns of the New World. 


20. The Puritans at 
I'lymoiith. 


.._/ 


24. Verrazzani explor 
ai. Cartier's exped 


cs the American coast, 
ition. 






42. Koberval in 


Canada. 






62.RibanIt 
64.. Eando 


with the Huguenots. 
nniere's enterprise. 










98. 


Ea Roclte in Nova Scotia. 

4. I>e Monts an<l Cliain- 

plain. 

5. Port Royal founded. 
8. Founding of Quebec. 




9. Hudson in America. 








14. Explorations of Block 








and May. 








14. Founding ui >oiv .\iii- 








stor<laiii. 




i, VoyaKCS of the Cortercals. 








19. Magellan circnmnav 


igates the <''"'■" 




THE NIGHT OF OCTOBER 11, 1492 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 57 

the fact that the recent discoveries were not a portion of that India already 
known, but were in reaUty another continent. In his published narrative 
all reference to Columbus was carefully omitted ; and thus through hi? 
own craft, assisted by the unappreciative dullness of the times, the name 
of this Vespucci rather than that of the true discoverer was given to the 
New World. 

The discovery of America produced great excitement throughout 
the states of Western Europe. In Spain especially there was wonderful 
zeal and enthusiasm. Within ten years after the death of Columbus, the 
principal islands of the West Indies were explored and colonized. In the 
year 1510 the Spaniards planted on the Isthmus of Darien their first con- 
tinental colony. Three years later, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the 
governor of the colony, learning from the natives that another ocean lay 
only a short distance to the westward, crossed the isthmus and from an 
eminence looked down v.pon the Pacific. Not satisfied with merely seeing 
the great water, he M'adcd in a short distance, and drawing his s\vord 
after the pompous Spanish fashion, took possession of the ocean in the 
name of the king of Spain. 

Meanwhile, JuAX Ponce de Leon, who had been a companion 
of Columbus on his second voyage, fitted out a private expedition of dis- 
covery and adventure. De Leon had grown rich as governor of Porto 
Kico, and while growing rich had also grown old. But there was a foun- 
tain of perpetual youth somewhere in the Bahamas — so said all the learn- 
ing and intelligence of Spain — and in that fountain the MTinkled old 
cavalier would bathe and be young again. So in the year 1.512 he set 
sail from Porto Rico ; and stopping first at San Salvador and the neighbor- 
ing islands, he came, on Easter Sunday, the 27th of March, in sight of an 
unknown shore. He sup]iosed that another island more beautiful than 
the rest was discovered. There were waving forests, green leaves, birds 
of song and the fragrance of blossoms. Partly in honor of the day, called 
in the ritual of the Church Pascua Florida, and partly to describe the 
delightful landscape that opened on his sight, he named the new shore 
Florida — the Land of Flowers. 

After a few days a landing was effected a short distance north of 
where, a half century later, were laid the foundations of St. Augustine, 
The country was claimed for the king of Spain, and the search for the 
youth -restoring fountain was eagerly prosecuted. The romantic adven- 
turer turned southward, explored the coast for many leagues, discovered 
and named the Tortugas, doubled Cape Florida, and then sailed back to 
Porto Rico, not perceptibl}^ younger than when he started. 

The king of Spain rewarded Ponce with the governorship of his 



58 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Land of Flowers, and sent him thither again to establish a colony. Tlie 
aged veteran did not, however, reach his province until the year 1521, 
and then it was only to find the Indians in a state of bitter hostility. 
Scarcely had he landed when they fell upon him in a furious battle; 
many of the Spaniards were killed outright, and tli^ rest had to l)ctake 
themselves to the ships for safety. Pouce de Leon himself received a 
mortal wound from an arrow, and was carried back to Cuba to die. 



CHAPTER IV. 

SPANISH DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA.— CONTINUED. 

THE year 1517 was marked by tiie discovery of Yucatan and the Bay 
of Campeachy by Fernandez de Cordova. While exploring the 
northern coast of tlie country, liis company M'as attacked by the natives, 
and he himself mortally wounded. During the next year the coast of 
Mexico was explored for a great distance by Grijalva, assisted by Ccr- 
'ova's pilot; and in the year 1519, Fernando Cortez landed with his 
fleet at Tabasco and began his famous conquest of Mexico. 

As soon as the news of the invasion spread abroad, the subjects 
of the Mexican empire were thrown into consternation. Armies of 
native warriors gathered to resist the progress of the Spaniards, l>ut 
were dispersed by the invaders. After freeing the coast of his opjio- 
nents, Cortez proceeded westward to Vera Cruz, a seaport one hun- 
dred and eighty miles south-east of the Mexican capital. Here he 
was met by ambassadors from the celebrated Montezuma, emperor 
of the country. From liim they delivered messages and exhibited 
great anxiety lest Cortez sliould march into the interior. He as- 
sured them that such was indeed his purpose ; that his business in 
the country was urgent; and that he must confer with Montezuma 
in person. 

The ambassadors tried in vain to dissuade the terrible Sj)aniard. 
They made him costly presents, and then hastened back to their 
alarmed sovereign. Montezuma immediately despatched them a sec- 
ond time with presents still more valuable, and with urgent appeals 
to Cortez to proceed no farther. But the cupidity of the Spaniards 
was now inflamed to the highest pitch, and burning their ships behind 
them, they began theii march towards the capital. The Mexican eni- 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 



59 



peror by his messengers forbade their approaeii to his city. Still they 
pressed on. The nations tributary to Montezuma threw off their al- 
legiance, made peace with the conqueror, and even joined his stand- 
ard. The irresolute and vacillating Indian monarch knew not what 
to do. The Span- 
iards came in sight 
of the city — a glit- 
tering and splen- 
did vision of spires 
and temples ; and 
the poor Montezu- 
ma came forth to 
receive his remorse- 
less enemies. On 
the morning of the 
8th of November, 
1519, the Spanish 
army marched over 
the causeway lead- 
ing into the Mexi- 
can capital and was 
quartered in the 
great central square 
near the temple of 
the 
war. 

It was now winter time. For a month Cortez remained quietly 
in the city. He was permitted to go about freely with his soldiers, 
and was even allowed to examine the sacred altars and .shrines where 
human sacrifices were daily ofl'ered up to the deities of Mexico. He 
made himself familiar with the defences of the capital and the Mex- 
ican mode of warfare. On every side he found inexhaustible stores 
of provisions, treasures of gold and silver, and what greatly excited 
his solicitude, arsenals filled with bows and javelins. But although 
surrounded with splendor and abiuidance, his own situation became 
extremely critical. The millions of natives who swarmed around him 
were becoming familiar with his troops and no longer believed them 
immortal. There were mutterings of an outbreak which threatened to 
overwhelm him in an hour. In this emergency tbe Spanish general 
adopted the bold and unscrupulous expedient of seizing Montezuma 
and holding him as a hostage. A plausible pretext for this outrage 
was found in tlie fact that tlie Mexican governor of the ]>n)vince 



Aztec god of 




FEUNANDO CORTEZ. 



GO HISTORY (IF THE UXITED STATES. 

adjaeent to Vera Cruz had attacked the Spanish garrison at that place, 
and that Montezuma himself had acted with hostility and treachery 
towards the Spaniards while they were marching on the city. As soon 
as the emperor -was in his ])ower, Cortez compelled him to acknowledge 
himself a vassal of the king of Spain and to agree to the payment of 
a sum auKiunting to six million three hundred thousand dollars, with 
an annual tribute afterwards. 

In the mean time, Velasquez, the Spanish governor of Cuba, 
jealous of the fame of Ccn-tez, had despatched a force to Mexico to 
arrest his progress and to supersede him in the command. The ex- 
pedition was led by Pamphilo de Xarvaez, the same who was 
afterwards "overnor of Florida. His forces consisted of more than 
twelve hundred well armed and M-ell disciplined soldiers, besides a 
thousand Indian servants and guides. But the vigilant Cortez had 
meanwhile been informed by messengers from Vera Cruz of the 
movement which his enemies at home had set on foot against him, 
and he determined to sell his command only at the price of his own 
life and the lives of all his followers. He therefore instructed Al- 
varado, one of his subordinate officers, to remain in tiic capital with 
a small force of a hundred and forty men; and with the remainder, 
numbering less than two hundred, he himself hastily withdrew from 
the citv and proceeded by a forced march to encounter De Narvaez 
on the sea-coast. On the night of the 26th of May, 1520, while the 
■soldiers of the latter were quietly asleep in their camp near Vera 
Cruz, Cortez burst upon them with the fury of despair, and before 
they could rally or well understand the terrible onset, compelled the 
whole force to surrender. Then, adding the general's skill to the 
warrior's prowess, he succeeded in inducing the conquered army to 
join his (nvn .standard ; and with his forces thus augmented to six 
times their original numbers lie began a second time his march to- 
Avards the capital. 

Wiiile Cortez was absent on this expedition, the Mexicans of 
the ca])ital rose in arms, and the possession of the country was staked 
on the issue of war. Alvarado, either fearing a revolt or from a 
si>irit of atrocious cruelty, had attacked the Mexicans while they 
were celclu-ating one of their festivals, and slain five hundred of the 
leaders and priests. The people in a frenzy of astonishment and rage 
flew to their arms and laid siege to the palace where Alvarado and 
his men were fortified. The Spaniards were already hard pressed 
when Cortez at the head of his new army reached the city. He en- 
tered without ojjposition and joined Alvarado's command; but the 
])assiims of the Mexicans were now thoroughly aroused, and not all 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 61 

the diplomacy of the Spanish general could again bring them into 
subjection. In a few days the conflict began in earnest. The streets 
were deluged with the blood of tens of thousands; and not a few of 
the Spaniards fell before the vengeance of the native warriors. For 
months there was almost incessant fighting in and around the city ; and 
it became evident that the Spaniards must ultimately be overwhelmed 
and destroyed. 

To save himself from his peril, Cortez adopted a second shame- 
less expedient, more wicked than the first. Montezuma was compelled 
to go upon the top of the palace in front of the great square where the 
besiegers were gathered and to counsel them to make peace with the 
Spaniards. For a moment there was universal silence, then a murmur 
of vexation and rage, and then Montezuma was struck down by the 
javelins of his own subjects. In a few days he died of wretchedness 
and despair, and for a while the warriors, overwhelmed with remorse, 
abandoned the conflict. But with the renewal of the strife Cortez was 
obliged to leave the city. Finally a great battle was fought, and the 
Spanish arms and valor triumphed. In the crisis of the struggle the 
sacred Mexican banner was struck down and captured. Dismay seized 
the hosts of puny warriors, and they fled in all directions. In De- 
cember of 1520, Cortez again marched on the capital. A siege, last- 
ing until August of the following year, ensued ; and then the famous 
city yielded. The empire of the Montezumas was overthrown, and 
Mexico became a Spanish province. 

Among the many daring enterprises which marked the beginning 
of the sixteenth century, that of Ferdinand Magellan is worthy 
of special mention. A Portuguese by birth, a navigator by profession, 
this man, .so noted for extraordinary boldness and ability, determined 
to discover a south-west rather than a north-west passage to Asia. 
With this object in view, he appealed to the king of Portugal for 
ships and men. The monarch listened coldly, and did nothing to 
give encouragement. Incensed at this treatment, Magellan threw off 
his allegiance, went to Spain — the usual resort of disappointed sea- 
men — and laid his plans before Charles V. The emperor caught 
eagerly at the opportunity, and ordered a fleet of five ships to be im- 
mediately fitted at the public expense and pi-operly manned with 
crews. 

The voyage was begun from Seville in August of 1519. Sailing 
southward across the equinoctial line, Magellan soon reached the coast 
of South America, and spent the autumn in explorations, hoping to find 
some strait that should lead him westward into that ocean which Balboa 
had discovered six years previously. Not at first successful in this effort, 



62 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

he passed the winter — whicli \va,s summer on that side of the equator — ■ 
somewhere on tlie coast of Brazil. Renewing his voyage southward, lie 
came at last to the eastern mouth of that strait which still bears the name 
of its discoverer, and passing througli it found himself in the ojjen and 
boundless ocean. The weather was beimtiful, and the peaceful deep was 
called the Pacific. 

Setting his prows to the north of west, IMagellan now held steadily 
on his course for nearly four months, suficring much meanwhile from 
want of water and scarcity of provisions. In March of 1520 he came to 
the group of islands called the I^adrones, situated about midway between 
Australia and Japan. Sailing still westward, he reached the Philippine 
group, where he was killed in a battle with the natives. But the fleet was 
now less than four hundred miles from China, and the rest of the route 
was easy. A new captain was chosen, and the voyage continued by way 
of the Moluccas, where a cargo of spices was taken on board for the market 
of Western Europe. Only a single ship was deemed in a fit condition to 
venture on the homeward voyage; but in this vessel the crews embarketl, 
and returning Ijy way of the Cape of Good Hoj)e arrived in Spain on the 
17th day of September, 1522. The circumnavigation of the globe, long 
believed in as a possibility, had now become a thing of reality. The 
theory of the old astronomers, of Mandeville and of Columbus had 
been proved l)y actual demonstration. 

The next important voyage undertiiken to the shores of America was 
in the year 1520. Lucas Vasqi'ez de Ayllon, who had been a judge 
in St. Domingo and had acquired great riches, conducted the expedition. 
He and six other wealthy men, eager to stock their plantations with slaves, 
determined to do so by kidna]i|)ing natives from the neighboring Bahamas. 
Two vessels were fitted out for the purpose, and De Ayllon commanded 
in person. When the vessels were nearing their destination, they encoun- 
tered a storm which drove them northward about a hundred and fifty 
leagues, and brought them against the coast of South Carolina. The ships 
entered St. Helena Sound and anchored in the mouth of the Cambahee 
River. The name of Chicora was given to the country, and the river was 
called the Jordan. The timid but friendly natives, as soon as their fca.s 
had subsided, began to make presents to the strangers and to treat them 
with great cordiality. They flocked on board the ships ; and when the 
decks were crowded, De Ayllon, watching his opportunity, weighed 
anchor and sailed away. A few days afterward an avenging storm sent 
one of the ships to the bottom of the sea, and death came mercifully to 
most of the poor Avretches who were huddled under the hatches of the 
other. 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 63 

Going at once to Spain, De Ayllon repeated the story of his exploit 
to Charles V., who rewarded him with the governorship of Chicora and 
the privilege of conquest. Returning to his province in 1525, he found 
the natives intensely hostile. His best ship ran aground in the mouth 
of the Jordan, and the outraged Indians fell u^ion him with fury, killing 
many of the treacherous crew, and making the rest glad enough to get 
away v;ith their lives. De Ayllon liimself returned to St. Domingo 
humiliateil and ruined. Thus ended the first dLsgraceful effort to enslave 
the Indians. 

In the year 1526, Charles V. appointed the unprincijiled Pamphilo 
DE Narvaez governor of Florida, and to the appointment was added 
the usual privilege of conquest. Tlie territory thus placed at his disposal 
extended from Cape Sabie fully three-fifths of the way around the Gulf 
of Mexico, and was limited on the south-west by the mouth of the River 
of Palms. AVitii tiiis extensive commission De Narvaez arrived at Tampa 
Bay in the month of April, 1528. His force consisted of two hundred 
and sixty soldiers and forty horsemen. The natives treated them with 
suspicion, and, anxious to be rid of the intruders, began to hold up their 
gold trinkets and to point to the north. The hint was eagerly caught at 
by the avaricious Spaniards, wiiose imaginations were set on fire with the 
sight of tlie precious metal. They struck boldly into the forests, expect^ 
ing to find cities and empires, and found instead swamps and savages. 
They readied the Witiilacoociiie and crossed it by swimming, they ])assed 
over the Suwanee in a canoe which they made for the occasion, and finally 
came to Apalachee, a squalid village of forty cabins. This, then, was the 
miglity city to which their guides had directed them. 

Oppressed with fatigue and goaded by hunger, they plunged again 
into the woods, wading through lagoons and assailed by lurking savages, 
until at last they reached the sea at the harbor of St. Mark's. Here they 
expected to find their ships, but not a ship was there, or had been. WitJi 
great labor they constructed some brigantines, and put to sea in the vain 
hope of reaching the Sj)anish settlements in Mexico. They Avere tossed 
by storms, driven out of sight of land and then thrown upon the shore 
again, drowned, slain by the savages, left in the solitary woods dead of 
starvation and despair, until finally four miserable men of all the adven- 
turous company, under the leadership of the heroic De Vaca, first lieu- 
tenant of the expedition, were rescued at the village of San Miguel, on 
the Pacific coast, and conducted to the city of Mexico. The story can 
hardly be paralleled in the annals of suffering and peril. 

But the Spaniards were not yet satisfied. In the yeai' 1537 a new 
expedition was planned which surpassed all the others in the bril- 



64 HISTORY UF THE UNITED STATES. 

liancy of its beginning and the disasters of its end. The most cavaliei 
of the cavaliers was Ferdinand de Soto, of Xeres. Besides the dis- 
tinction of a noble birth, he had been the lieutenant and bosom friend of 
Pizarro, and had now returned from Peru loaded with wealth. So great 
was his popularity in Spain that he had only to demand what he would 
have of the emperor that his request might be granted. At his own dic- 
tation he was accordingly appointed governor of Cuba and Florida, with 
the privilege of exploring and conquering the latter country at liis pleasure. 
A great company of young Spaniards, nearly all of them wealtliy and 
high-born, flocked to his standard. Of these he selected six hundred of 
the most gallant and daring. They were clad in costly suits of armor 
of the knightly pattern, with airy scarfs and silken embroideiy and all 
the trappings of chivalry. Elaborate preparations wei'e made for the 
grand conquest ; arms and stores were provided ; shackles ^\cr': wrought 
for the slaves ; tools for the forge and workshop were abundantly sup- 
plied ; bloodhounds were bought and trained for the work of hunting 
fugitives ; cards to keep the young knights excited with gaming ; twelve 
priests to conduct religious ceremonies ; and, last of all, a dro\-e of swine 
to fatten on the maize and mast of the countiy. 

When, after a year of impatience and delay, everything was at last 
in readiness, the gay Castilian squadron, ten vessels in all, lelt the harbor 
of San Lucar to conquer imaginary empires in the New World. The fleet 
touched at Havana, and the enthusiasm was kindled even to a higher 
pitch than it had reached in Spain. De Soto left his wife to govern Cuba 
during his absence; and after a prosperous and exulting voyage of two 
■weeks, the ships cast anchor in Tampa Bay. This A\as in the early part 
of June, 1539. When some of the Cubans who had joined the expedition 
first saw the silent forests and gloomy morasses that stretched before them, 
they were terrified at the prospect, and .sailed back to the security of home ; 
but De Soto and his cavaliers despised such cowardice, and began their 
march into the interior. During the months of July, August and Sep- 
tember they marched to the northward, wading through swamps, swim- 
ming rivers and fighting the Indians. In October they arrived at the 
country of the Apalachians, on the left bank of Flint River, where 
they determined to spend the winter. For four months they remained iu 
this localit}^, sending out exploring parties in various directions. One of 
these companies reached the gulf at Pensacola, and made arrangements 
that supplies should be sent out from Cuba to that place during the fol- 
lowing summer. 

In the early spring the Spaniards left their winter quarters and con- 
tinued their march to the north and east. An Indian gruide told them of 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 65 

A powerful and populous empire in that direction ; a woman was empress, 
ftnd the land was full of gold. A Spanish soldier, one of the men of 
Narvaez, who had been kept a captive among the Indians, denial the 
truth of the extravagant story ; but De Soto only said that he would find 
gold or see poverty with his own eyes, and the freebooters pressed on 
through the swamps and woods. It was April, 1540, when they came 
upon the Ogechee River. Here they were delayed. The Indian guide 
ivent mad ; and when the priests had conjured the evil spirit out of him> 
he repaid their benevolence by losing the whole company in the forest. 
By the 1st of May they had reached South Carolina, and were within a 
two days' march of where De Ayllon had lost his ships and men at the 
mouth of the Jordan. Thence the wanderers turned west^vard ; but that 
De Soto and his men crossed the mountains into North Carolina and Ten- 
nessee is hardly to be believed. They seem rather to have passed across 
Northern Georgia from the Chattahouche to the upper tributaries of the 
Coos», and thence down that river to the valleys of Lower Alabama. 
Here, just above the confluence of the Alabama and the Tombecbee, they 
came upon the fortified Indian town called Mauville, or Mobile, where a 
terrible battle was fought with the natives. The town was set on fire, 
and two thousand five hundred of the Indians were killed or burned to 
death. Eighteen of De Soto's men were killed, and a hundred and fifty 
wounded. The Spaniards also lost about eighty horses and all of their 
baggage. 

The ships of supply had meanwhile arrived at Pensacola, but De 
Soto and hLs men, although in desperate circumstances, were too stubborn 
and proud to avail themselves of help or even to send news of their where- 
abouts. They turned resolutely to the north ; but the country was poor, 
and their condition grew constantly worse and worse. By the middle of 
December they had reached the country of the Chickasas, in Northern 
Mississippi. They crossed the Yazoo; the weather was severe; snow 
fell ; and the Spaniards were on the point of starvation. They succeeded, 
however, in finding some fields of ungathered maize, and then came upon 
a deserted Indian village which promised them shelter for the winter. 
After remaining here till February, 1541, they were suddenly attacked ia 
the dead of night by the Indians, who, at a preconcerted signal, set the 
town on fire, determined then and there to make an end of the desolating 
foreigner ; but the Spanish weapons and discipline again saved De Soto 
and his men from destruction. 

After gathering provisions and reclothing themselves as well as pos- 
sible, the Spaniards set out again in early spring to journey still farther 
westward. The guides now brought them to the Mississippi. The point 



66 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

•where the majestic Father of Waters was first seen by white men was at 
the lower Chickasaw Biiiff, a little north of the thirty-fourth parallel of 
latitude ; the clay of the discovery cannot certainly be known. The In- 
dians came down the river in a fleet of canoes, and offered to carry the 
Spaniards over ; but the horses could not be transported until barges were 
built for that purpose. The crossing was not effected until the latter part 
of May. 

De Soto's men now found themselves in the land of the Dakotas. 
Journeying to the north-west, they passed through a country where wild 
fruits were plentiful and subsistence easy. The natives were inoffensive 
and superstitious. At one place they were going to woi"ship the woe- 
begone cavaliers as the children of the gods, but De Soto was too good a 
Catholic to permit such idolatry. Tiie Spaniards continued their march 
until they reached the St, Francis River, which they crossed, and gained 
the southern limits of Missouri, in the vicinity of New Madrid. Thence 
westward the march was renewed for about two hundred miles; thence 
soutliward to the Hot Springs and the tributaries of the Washita River. 
On the banks of this river, at the town of Atiamque, they passed the win- 
ter of 1541--42. The Indians were found to be much more civilized than 
those east of the Mississippi ; but their civilization did not protect them 
in the least from the horrid cruelties which the Spaniards practiced. No 
consideration of justice, humanity or mercy moved the stony hearts of 
these polite and Christian warriors. Indian towns were set on fire for 
sport ; Indian hands were chopped off for a Avhim ; and Indian captives 
burned alive because, under fear of death, they had told a falsehood. 

But De Solo's men were themselves growing desperate in their mis- 
fortunes. They turned again toward the sea, and passing down the 
tributaries of the Washita to the junction of that stream with the Red 
River, came upon the Mississippi in the neighborhood of Natchez. The 
spirit of De Soto was at last com])letely broken. The haughty cavalier 
bowed his head and became a prey to melancholy. No more dazzling 
visions of Peru and Mexico flitted before his imagination. A malignant 
fever seized upon his emaciated frame, and then death. The priests 
chanted a requiem, and in the middle of the solemn night his sorrowful 
companions put the dead hero's body into a rustic coffin, and rowing out 
a distance from shore sunk it in the Mississippi. Ferdinand de Soto had 
found a grave under the rolling waters of the great river with which his 
name will be associated for ever. 

Before his death, De Soto had named Moscoso as his successor ; and 
now, under the leadership of the new governor, the ragged, half-starved 
adventurers, in the vain hope of reaching Mexico, turned once more to the 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 67 

west. They crossed the country to the upper waters of tlie Red River, on 
the confines of Texas. Thence they turned northward into the territory 
of the Pawnees and the Comanches, ranging the hunting-grounds of 
those fierce savages until stopped by the mountains. In December of 
1542, after almost endless wanderings and hardshijjs, they came again 
to the Mississippi, reaching the now familiar stream a short distance above 
the mouth of Red River. They now formed the desperate resolution of 
building boats, and thiLS descending the river to the gulf They erected 
a forge, broke off the fetters of the captives in order to procure iron, sawed 
timber in the forest, and at last completed seven brigantines and launched 
them. The time thus occupied extended from January to July of 1543. 
The Indians of the neighborhood were now for the la.st time plundered 
in order to furnish supplies for the voyage ; and on tlie 2d day of July 
the Spaniards went on board their boats and started for the sea. The dis- 
tance was almost five hundred miles, and seventeen days Avere required to 
make the descent. On reaching the Gulf of Mexico, they steered to the 
south-west ; and keeping as close to the shore as possible, after fiftj'-five 
days of buffetings and perils along the dangerous coast, they came — three 
hundred and eleven famished and heart-broken fugitives — to the settle- 
ment at the mouth of the River of Palms; and thus ended the most 
marvelous expedition in the early history of our country. 

The next attempt by the Spaniards to colonize Florida was in the 
year 1565. The enterprise was entrusted to Pedro Melendez, a Span- 
ish soldier of ferocious disposition and criminal practices. He was under 
sentence to pay a heavy fine at the very time Avhen he received his com- 
mission from tiie bigoted Philip II. The contract between that monarch 
and Melendez was to the effect that the latter should within three years 
explore the coast of Florida, conquer the country, and plant in some 
favorable district a colonv of not less than five hundred persons, of whom 
one hundred should be married men. Melendez was to receive two hun- 
dred and twenty-five square miles of land adjacent to the settlement, and 
an annual salary of two thousand dollars. Twenty-five hundred persons 
collected around Melendez to join in the expedition. The fleet left Spain 
in July, reached Porto Rico early in August, and on the 28th of the same 
month came in sight of Florida. 

It must now be understood that the real object had in view by 
Melendez was to attack and destroy a colony of French Protestants called 
Huguenots, who, in the previous year, had made a settlement about thirty- 
five miles above the mouth of the St. John's River. This was, of course, 
within the limits of the territory claimed by Spain ; and Melendez at once 
perceived that to extirpate these French heretics in the name of patriotism 



68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and religion would be likely to restore his shattered character and bring 
him into favor again. His former crimes were to be washed out in the 
blood of the innocents. Moreover, the Catholic party at the French 
court had comnmnicated with the Spanish court a.s to the whereabouts and 
intentions of the Huguenots, so that Melendez knew precisely where to 
find them and how to compa.ss their destruction. 

It was St. Augustine's day when the dastardly Spaniard came lu 
sight of the shore, but the landing was not effected until the 2d of Sep- 
tember. The spacious harbor and the small river which enters it from 
the south were named in honor of the saint. On the 8tli day of the 
same month, Philip II. was proclaimed monarch of all North America ; 
a solemn mass was said by the jmests ; and there, in the sight of forest, and 
sky, and sea, the foundation-stones of the oldest town in the United States 
were put into their place. Tliis was seventeen years before the founding 
of Santa Fe by Antonio de Espego, and forty-two years before the 
settlement at Jamesto\vn. 

As soon as the new town was sufficiently advanced to be secure 
agaiiLst accident, Melendez turned his attention to the Huguenots. The 
latter were expecting to be attacked, but had supposed that the Spanish 
fleet would sail up the St. John's, and make the onset from that direction. 
Accordingly, knowing that they must fight or die, all the French vessels 
except two left their covert in the river and put to sea, intending to an- 
ticipate the movements of the Spaniards ; but a furious storm arose and 
da.shed to pieces everj' ship in the fleet. Most of the crews, however, 
reached the shore just above the mouth of the river. Melendez now 
collected his forces at St. Augustine, stole through the woods and swamps, 
and falling unexpectedly on the defenceless colony, utterly destroyed 
it. Men, women and children were alike given up to butchery. Two 
hundred were killed outright. A few escaped into the forest, Laudonniere^ 
the Huguenot leader, among the number, and making their way to tha 
coast, were picked up by the two French ships which had been saved 
from the storm. 

The crews of the ^vTecked vessels were the next object of Spanish 
vengeance. Melendez discovered their wlicreabouts, and deceiving them 
with treacherous promises of clemency, induced them to surrender. They 
were ferried across the river in boats ; but no sooner were they completely 
in the poMcr of their enemy than their hands were bound behind them, 
and they were driven off, tied two and two, toward St. Augustine. As 
they approached the Spanish fort the signal was given by sounding a 
trumpet, and the work of slaughter began anew. Seven hundred defence- 
less x-ictims were added to the previous atrocious massacre. Only a few 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 69 

mechanics and Catholic servants were left alive. Under these bloody 
aaspices the first permanent European colony was planted in our country. 
In what way the Huguenots were revenged upon their enemies will be 
told in another place. 

The Spaniards had now explored the entire coast from the Isthmus 
of Darien to Port Royal in South Carolina. They were acquainted with 
the country west of the Mississippi as far north as New Mexico and 
Missouri, and east of that river they had traversed the Gulf States as far 
as the mountain ranges of Tennessee and North Carolina. With the es- 
tablishment of their firet permanent colony on the coast of Florida the 
period of Spanish voyage and discovery may be said to end. 

Before closing this chapter, a brief account of the only important 
voyage made by the Portuguese to America will be given : At the time 
of tlie first discovery by Columbus, the unambitious John II. was king 
of Portugal. He paid but little attention to the New World, prefer- 
ring the security and dullness of his own capital to the splendid allure- 
ments of the Atlantic. In 1495 he was succeeded on the throne by his 
cousin Manuel, a man of very different character. This monarch could 
hardly forgive his predecessor for having allowed Spain to snatch from the 
flag of Portugal the glory of Columbus's achievements. In order to secure 
some of the benefits which yet remained. King INIanuel fitted out two ves- 
sels, and in the summer of 1501 commissioned Caspar Cortereal to 
sail on a voyage of discovery. The Portuguese vessels reached America in 
the month of July, and beginning at some point on the shores of Maine, 
sailed northward, exploring the coast for nearly seven hundred miles. Just 
below the fiftieth parallel of latitude Cortereal met the icebergs, and could 
go no farther. Little attention was paid by him to the great forests of 
pine and hemlock which stood tall and silent along the shore, promising 
ship-yards and cities in after times. He satisfied his rapacity by kid- 
napping fifty Indians, whom, on his return to Portugal, he sold as slaves. 
A new voyage was then undertaken, with the avowed purpose of capturing 
another cargo of natives for the slave-mart of Europe ; but when a year 
went by, and no tidings arrived from the fleet, the brother of the Portuguese 
captain sailed in hope of finding the missing vessels. He also was lost, 
but in what manner has never been ascertained. The fate of the Corte- 
reals and their slave-ships has remained one of the unsolved mysteries 
of the sea. 



70 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER V. 

TEE FRENCH IN AMERICA. 

FRANCE was not slow to profit by the discoveries of Columbus. As 
early as 1504 the fishermen of Normandy and Brittany began to ply 
their vocation on the banks of Ne^\'fouudland. A map of the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence was drawn by a Frenchman in the year 1506. Two years 
later some Indians were taken to Franc«; and in 1518 the attention of 
Francis I. was turned to the colonization of the New World. Five years 
afterward a voyage of discovery and exploration was planned, and John 
Verrazzaxi, a native of Florence, was commissioned to conduct the 
expedition. The special object had in view was to discover a north-west 
passage to Asia. 

In the month of January, 1524, Verrazzani left the shores of Europe. 
His fleet consisted at first of four vessels ; but three of them were damaged 
in a storm, and the voyage was undertaken with a single shiji, called the 
Dolphin. For fifty days, through the buffetings of tempestuous weather, 
the courageous mariner held on his course, and on the 7th day of March 
discovered the main land in the latitude of Wilmington. He first sailed 
southward a hundred and fifty miles in the hope of finding a harbor, 
but found none. Returning northward, he finally anchored somev^here 
along the low sandy beach which stretches between the mouth of Cape 
Fear River and Pamlico Sound. Here he began a traffic with the natives. 
The IndiaiLS of this neighborhood were found to be a gentle and timid 
sort of oi-eaturos, unsuspicious and confiding. A half-drowned sailor who 
was washed ashore by the surf was treated with great kindness, and as soon 
as opportunity offered, permitted to return to the ship. 

After a few days the voyage was continued toward the north. The 
whole coast of New Jersey was explored, and the liills marked as con- 
taining minerals. The harbor of New York was entered, and its safe 
and spacious waters were noted with admiration. At Newport, Rhode 
Island, Verrazzani anchored for fifteen days, and a trade was again opened 
with the Indians. Before leaving the place the French sailors repaid the 
confidence of the natives by kidnapping a ciiiid and attempting to steal 
a defenceless Indian girl. 

Sailing from Newjjoit, Verrazzani continued iu"s exjjiorations north- 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 71 

vfard. The long and broken line of the New England coast was traced 
with considerable care. The Indians of the north were wary and sus- 
picious. They would buy neither ornaments nor toys, but were eager to 
purchase knives and weapons of iron. Passing to the east of Nova 
Scotia, the bold navigator reached Newfoundland in the latter part of 
May. In July he returned to France and published an account, still ex- 
tant, of his great discoveries. The name of New France was now given 
to the whole country whose sea-coast had been traced by the adventurous 
crew of the Dolphin. 

Such was the distracted condition of France at this time, that 
another expedition was not planned for a period of ten years. In 1534, 
however, Chabot, admiral of the kingdom, selected James Cartier, a 
seaman of St. Malo, in Brittany, to make a new voyage to America. 
Two ships were fitted out for the enterprise, and after no more than 
twenty days of sailing under cloudless skies anchored on the 10th day of 
May off the coast of Newfoundland. Before the middle of July, Cartier 
had circumnavigated the island to the northward, crossed the Gulf of St. 
Lawrenee to the south of Anticosti, and entered the Bay of Chaleurs. 
Not finding, as he had hoped, a passage out of this bay westward, he 
changed his course to the north again, and ascended the coast as far as 
Gasp6 Bay. Here, upon a point of land, he set up a cross bearing a 
shield with the lily of France, and proclaimed the French king monarch 
of the country. Pressing his way still farther northward, and then west- 
ward, he entered the St. Lawrence, and ascended the broad estuary until 
the narrowing banks made him aware that he was in the mouth of a river. 
Cartier, thinking it impracticable to pass the winter in the New World, 
now turned his prows toward France, and in thirty days anchored his ships 
in the harbor of St. Malo. 

So great was the fame of Cartier's first voyage that another was 
planned immediately. Three good ships were provided, and quite a num- 
ber of young noblemen joined the expedition. Colonization rather than 
discovery was now the inspiring motive. The sails were set by zealous 
and excited crews, and on the 19th of May the new voyage was begun. 
This time there was stormy weather, yet the passage to Newfoundland 
was made by the 10th of August. It was the day of St. Lawrence, and 
the name of that martyr was accordingly given to the gulf, and after- 
ward to the noble stream which enters it from the west. Sailing north- 
ward around Anticosti, the expedition proceeded up the river to the island 
of Orleans, where the ships were moored in a jilace of safety. Two In- 
dians vhom Cartier had taken with him to France in the previous year 
now gave information that higher up the river there was an important 



72 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

town on the island of Hochelaga. Proceeding thither in his boats, the 
French captain found it as the Indians had said. A beautiful village lay 
there at the foot of a iiiij-h hill in the middle of the island. Climbing; to 
the top of the hill, Cartier, as suggested by the scene around him, named 
the island and town Mont-Real. The country was declared to belong by 
right of discovery to the king of France; and then the boats dropped 
down the river to tlie ships. During this winter twenty-five of Cartier's 
men were swept off by the scurvy, a malady hitherto unknown in Europe. 

With the opening of spring, preparations were made to return to 
France. The terrible winter had proved too much for Frendi enthusiasm. 
The emblem of Catholicism, bearing the arms of France, was again jjlanted 
in the soil of the New World, and the homeward voyage began ; but be- 
fore the ships had left their anchorage, the kindly king of the Hurons, 
who had treated Cartier with so much generosity, was decoyed on board 
and carried off to die. On the Oth day of July the fleet reached St. 
Malo in safety ; but by the accounts which Cartier pulilished on his return 
the French were greatly discouraged. Neither silver nor gold had been 
found on the banks of the St. Lawrence ; and what was a new world good 
for that had not silver and gold ? 

Francis of La Roque, lord of Roberval, in Picardy, was the next 
to undertake the colonization of the countries discovered by the Frencli. 
This nobleman, four years after Cartier's return from his second voyage, 
was commissioned by the court of France to plant a colony on the St. 
Lawrence. The titles of viceroy and lieutenant-general of New France 
were conferred upon him, and much other vainglorious ceremony attended 
his preparations for departure. The man, however, who was chiefly 
relied on to give character and direction to the proposed colony was no 
other than James Cartier. He only seemed competent to conduct the 
enterprise with any promise of success. His name was accordingly addetl 
to the list, and he was honored with the office of chief pilot and captain- 
general of the expedition. 

The next thing to be done was to find material for the colony. This 
was a difficult task. The French peasants and mechanics were not eager 
to embark for a country which promised nothing better than savages and 
snow. Cartier's honest narrative about the resources of New France had 
left no room for further dreaming. So the work of enlisting volunteers 
went on slowly, until the government adojrted the plan of ojjening the 
prisons of the kingdom and giving freedom to whoever would join the 
expedition. There was a rush of robbers, swindlers and murderers, and 
the lists were immediately filled. Only counterfeiters and traito .? were 
denied the ])rivilege of gaining their liberty in the New World. 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 73 

In the latter part of May, 1541, five ships, under the immediate 
command of Cartier, left France, and soon reached the St. Lawrence. 
The expedition proceeded up the river to the present site of Quebec, 
where a fort was erected anil named Charlesbourg. Here the colonists 
passed the winter. Cartier, t)ii'ended because of the subordinate position 
which he held, was sullen and gloomy, and made no effort to prosecute 
discoveries which could benefit no one but the ambitious Roberval. The 
two leaders never acted in concert ; and when La Roquc, in June of the 
following year, arrived with immigrants and supplies, Caitier secretly 
sailed away with his part of the squadron, and returned to Europe. 
Roberval was left in New France with three siiiploads of criminals who 
could only be restrained by whipping and hanging. During tiie autumn 
some feeble efforts were made to discover a northern passage ; the winter 
M^as long and severe, and spring was welcomed by the colonists chiefly 
for the ojjportunity which it gave them of returning to Fi-ance. The 
enterprise undertaken with so much pomp had resulted in nothing. In 
the year 1549 Roberval, with a large company of emigrants, sailed on a 
second voyage, but the fleet was never heard of afterward. 

A period of fifty years now elapsed before the French authorities 
again attempted to colonize America. Meanwhile, private enterprise 
and religious pereecution had co-operated in an effort to accomplish in 
Florida and Carolina what the government had failed to accomplish on 
the St. Lawrence. About the middle of the sixteenth century Coligni, 
the Protestant admiral of France, formed the design of establishing in 
America a refuge for the persecuted Huguenots of his own country. In 
1562 this liberal and influential minister obtained from the sovereign, 
Charles IX., the coveted privilege of planting a colony of Protestants 
in the New World. John Ribault of Dieppe, a brave and experienced 
sailor, was selected to lead the Huguenots to the land of promise. Sail- 
ing in February, the company reached the coast of Florida at a point 
where three years later St. Augustine was founded. Tiie River St. John's, 
called by the Spaniards the St. Matthew, was entered by the French and 
named the River of May. The vessels then continued northward along 
the coast until they came to the entrance of Port Royal ; here it was 
determined to make the settlement. The colonists were landed on an 
island, and a stone engraved with the arms of their native land was set 
up to mark the place. A fort was erected, and in honor of Charles IX. 
named Carolina — a name which a centuiy afterward was retained by the 
English and applied to the whole country from the Savannah River to 
the southern boundary of Virginia. In this fort Ribault left twenty-six 
men to keep possession, and then sailed back to France for additional 



74 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

emigrants and stores. But civil war was now raging in the kingdom, 
and it was quite impossible to procure either supplies or colonists. No 
reinforcements were sent to Carolina, and in the following spring the men 
in the fort, discouraged with long waiting, grew mutinous, and killed 
their leader for atteni])ting to control them. Then they constructed a 
rude brig and put to sea. After they had been driven about bv the 
winds fur a long time, they were picked up half starved by an English 
shij) antl carried to the coast of France. 

Coligni did not yet despair of success in what he had undertaken. 
Two years after the first attempt another colony was planned, and Lau- 
DONNiEEE chosen leader. The character, however, of this second Prot- 
estant company was very bad. Many of them were abandoned men, of 
little industry and no prudence. The harbor of Port Royal was now 
shunned by the Huguenots, and a point on the River St. John's about 
fifteen miles west of where St. Augustine now stands was selected for the 
settlement. A fort was built here, and things were going well until a part 
of the colonists, under the pretext of escaping from famine, contrived to get 
away with two of the ships. Instead of returning to France, as thev had 
promised, they began to practice piracy in the adjacent seas, until they were 
caught, brought back and justly hanged. The rest of the settlers, im- 
provident and dissatisfied, were on the eve of breaking up the colony, 
when Ribault arrived with supplies of ever}' sort, and restored order and 
content. It M'as at this time that the Spaniard IMelendez, as already 
narrated, discovered the whereabouts of the Huguenots, and murdered the 
entire company. 

It remained for DoMixic DE Goueges, a soldier of Gascony, to 
visit the Spaniards of St. Augustine with signal vengeance. This man 
fitted out three ships, mostly with his own means, and with only fifty 
daring seamen on board arrived in mid-winter on the coast of Florida. 
With this handful of soldiers he surprised successively three Spanish 
forts on the St. John's, and made prisoners of the inmates. Then, when 
he was unable to hold his position any longer, he hanged his leading 
captives to the branches of the trees, and put up this inscription to explain 
what he had done : " Not Spaniards, but murderers." 

In the year 1598 the attention of the government of France was 
once more directed to the claims which French discover}- had established 
in America. The Marquis of La Roche, a nobleman of iniluence and 
distinction, now obtained a commission authorizing him to found an empire 
in the New World. The prisons of France were again opened to furnish 
the emigrants, and the colony was soon made up. Crossing the Atlantic 
by the usual route, the vessels reached the coast of Nova Scotia, and 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 75 

anchored at Sable Island. A more dismal place could not have been 
found between Labrador and Mexico ; yet here, on this desolate island, La 
Roche left forty men to form a settlement, while he himself, under the pre- 
text of procuring more men and supplies, returned to France. Shortly 
after his arrival in that country he died ; and for seven dreary years the 
new French empire, composed of forty criminals, languished on Sable 
Island. Then they were mercifully picked up by some pa.ssing shijis and 
carried back to France. Their punishment had been enough, and they 
were never remanded to prison. 

But the time had now come when a colony of Frenchmen should 
actually be established in America. In the year 1603 the sovereignty of 
the country from the latitude of Philadelphia to one degree north of 
Montreal was granted to De Monts. The items of chief importance in 
the patent which he received from the king were a monopoly of the fui'- 
trade of the new country and religious freedom for Huguenot immigrants. 
De Monts, with two shiploads of colonists, left France early in March of 
1 604, and after a pleasant voyage reached the Bay of Fundy. The sum- 
mer was spent in making explorations and in trafficking with the natives. 
De Monts seems to have been "uncertain as to where he should plant his 
colony ; but while in this frame of mind, Poutrincourt, the captain of one of 
the ships, being greatly pleased with a harbor which he had discovered on 
the north-west coast of Nova Scotia, a*ked and obtained a grant of the same, 
together with some beautiful lands adjacent, and he and a part of the crew 
went on shore. De IMonts, with the rest of the colony, crossed to the west 
side of the bay, and began to build a fort on an island at the mouth of 
the St. Croix River. But in the following spring they abandoned this 
place, and returned to the harbor which had been granted to Poutrin- 
court. Here, on the 14th day of November, 1605, the foundations of the 
first permanent French settlement in America were laid. The name of 
Port Royal was given to the harbor and the fort, and the whole country, 
including Nova Scotia, the surrounding islands and the main land as far 
south as the St. Croix River, was called Acadia. 

Two years before the settlement was made at Port Royal, SAMtTEli 
Champlain, one of the most eminent and soldierly men of his times, was 
commissioned by a company of Rouen merchants to explore the country of 
the St. Lawrence and establish a trading-post. The traders saw that a traffic 
in the furs which those regions so alnuidantly supplied was a surer road 
to riches than rambling about in search of gold and diamonds. Under 
this commission, Champlain crossed the ocean, entered the gulf, sailed up 
tlie river, and with remarkable prudence and good judgment selected 
the spot on which Quebec now stands as the site for a fort. In the 



76 HISTORY OF THi, UNITED STATES. 

autumn of 1603, he returned to France, and published an interesting and 
feithful account of his expctlition. 

In the year 1608, Champlain again visited America, and on the 
3d of July in that year the foundations of Quebec were laid. In the 
following year he and two other Frenchmen joined a company of Huron 
and Algonquin Indians who were at war with the Iroquois of New York. 
While marciiing with this party of warriors, he ascended the Sorcl River 
until he came to the long, narrow lake which he was the first white man 
to look upon, and which has ever since borne the name of its discoverer. 

Champlain was a religious enthusiast, and on that account the 
devclojmient of his colony was for some time hindered. In 1612 the 
Protestant party came into power in France, and the great Conde, the 
protector of the Protestants, became viceroy of the French empire in 
America. Now, for the third time, Champlain came to New France, 
and the success of the colony at Quebec was fully assured. Franciscan 
monks came over and began to preach among the Indians. These 
friars and the Protestants quarreled a good deal, and the settlement 
^vas much disturbed. A second time Champlain went with a war- 
party against the Iroquois. His company was defeated, he himself 
Mounded and obliged to remain all winter among the Hurons ; but 
in the summer of 1617 he returned to the colony, in 1620 began to 
build, and four years aflerward completed, the strong fortress of St. 
Louis. When the heavy bastions of this castle appeared on the high 
cliiF above the town and river, the permanence of the French settle- 
ments in the valley of the St. Lawrence was no longer doubtful. To 
Samuel Champlain, more than to any other man — more than to the 
French government itself — the success of the North American colo- 
nies of France must be attributcd- 



CHAPTER VI. 

ENGLISH DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS. 

"VTO day in the early history of the New AA'orld was more important 
-L^ than the 5th of May, 1496. On that day Henry VII., king of 
England, signed the commission of John Cabot of Venice to make dis- 
coveries and explorations in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, to carry the 
English flag, and to take possession of all islands and eontinents which he 
might discover. Cabot was a brave, adventurous man who had been a 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 77 

sailor from his boyhood, and was now a wealthy merchant of Bristol. 
The autumn and winter were spent in preparations for the voyage; 
five substantial ships were fitted, crews were enlisted, and everything 
made ready for the opening of tlie spring. In April the fleet left Bris- 
tol ; and on the morning of the 24th of June, at a point about the 
middle of the eastern coast of Labrador, the gloomy shore was seen. 
This was the real discovery of the American continent. Fourteen 
months elapsed before Columbas reached the coast of Guiana, and more 
than two years before Ojeda and Vespucci came in sight of the main 
land of South America. 

Cabot explored the shore-line of the country which he had dis- 
covered for several hundred miles. He supposed that the land was a 
part of the dominions of the Cham of Tartary ; but finding no inhabitants, 
he went on shore, according to the terms of his commission, planted the 
flag of England, and took possession in the name of the English king. 
No man forgets his native land ; by the side of the flag of his adopted 
country Cabot set up the banner of the republic of Venice — auspicious 
emblem of another flag which should one day float from sea to sea. 

As soon as he had satisfied himself of the extent and character of 
the country which he had discovered, Cabot sailed for England. On the 
homeward voyage he twice saw on the right hand the coast of Ne-\vfound- 
land, but did not stop for further discovery. After an absence of but 
little more than three montks, he reached Bristol, and was greeted with 
great enthusiasm. The town had holiday, the people were wild about 
the discoveries of their favorite admiral, and the whole kingdom took up 
the note of rejoicing. The Crown gave him money and encouragement, 
new crews were enlisted, new ships fitted out, and a new commission 
more liberal in its provisions than the first was signed in Febraary of 1498. 
Strange as it may seem, after the date of this second patent the very 
name of John Cabot disappears from the annals of the times. Where 
the remainder of his life was passed and the circumstances of his death 
are involved in complete mystery. 

But Sebastian, second son of John Cabot, inherited his father's 
plans and reputation, and to his father's genius added a greater genius 
of his own. He had already been to the New World on that first famous 
voyage, and now, when the opportunity ofiered to conduct a voyage of 
his own, he threw himself into the enterprise with all the fervor of youth. 
It is probable that the very fleet which had been equipped for his father 
was entrusted to Sebastian. At any rate, the latter found himself, in the 
spring of 1498, in command of a squadron of well-manned vessels and 
on his way to the new continent. The particular object had in view was 



78 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

that common folly of the times, the discovery of a north-west passage to 
the Indies. 

The voyage continued prosperously until, in the ocean west of Green- 
land, the icebergs compelled Sebastian to change his course. It was July, 
and the sun scarcely set at midnight. Seals were seen and the ships 
ploughed through such shoals of codfish as had never before been heard of^ 
The shore was reached not far from the scene of the elder Cabot's discov~ 
eries, and then the fleet turned southward, but whether across the Gulf' 
of St. Lawrence or to the east of Newfoundland is uncertain. New 
Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Maine were next explored. The whole 
coast-line of New England and of the Middle States was now for the 
first time since the days of the Norsemen traced by Europeans. Nor did 
Cabot desist from this M'ork, which was bestowing the title of discovery 
on the crown of England, until he had passed beyond the Chesapeake. 
After all the disputes about the matter, it is most probable that Cape 
Hatteras is the point from -which Sebastian began his homeward voyage. 

The future career of Cabot was as strange as the voyages of his 
boyhood had been wonderful. The scheming, illiberal Henr}' VII., 
although quick to appreciate the value of Sebastian's discoveries, was 
slow to reward the discoverer. The Tudors were all dark-minded and 
selfish princes. When King Henry died, Ferdinand the Catholic enticed 
Cabot away from England and made him pilot-major of Spain. While 
holding this high office he had almost entire control of the maritime 
affairs of the kingdom, and sent out many successful voyages. He lived 
to be very old, but the circumstances of his death have not been ascer- 
tained, and his place of burial is unknown. 

TJie year 1498 is the most marked in the whole history of discovery. 
In the month of May, Vasco de Gama of Portugal doubled the Cape 
of Good Hope and succeeded in reaching Hindostan. During the sum- 
mer the younger Cabot traced the eastern coast of North America through 
more than twenty degrees of latitude, thus establishing for ever the claim 
of England to the most valual)le portion of the New World. In August, 
Columbus himself, now sailing on his third voyage, reached the mouth of 
the Orinoco. Of the three great discoveries, that of Cabot has proved to 
be by far the juost important. 

But several causes impeded the career of English discovery during 
the greater part of the sixteenth centurj\ The next year after the New 
World was found, the pope, Alexander the Sixth, drew an imaginary line 
north and south three hundred miles west of the Azores, and issued a 
papal bull giving all islands and countries west of that line to Spain. 
Henry VII. of England was himself a Catholic, and he did not care to 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 79 

begin a conflict with his Church by pressing his own claims to the newiy- 
found regions of the west. His son and successor, Henry VIII., at first 
adopted the same policy, and it was not imtil after the Reformation had 
been accomplished in England that the decision of the pope came to be 
disregarded, and finally despised and laughed at. 

During the short reign of Edward VI. the spirit of maritime adven- 
ture was again aroused. In 1548 the king's council voted a hundred 
pounds sterling to induce the now aged Sebastian Cabot to return from 
Spain and become grand-pilot of England. The old admiral quitted 
Seville and once more sailed under the English flag. In the reign of 
Queen Mary the power of England on the sea was not materially extended, 
but with the accession of Elizabeth a wonderful impulse was given to all 
enterprises which promised the aggrandizement of her kingdom. 

The spirit of discovery now reappeared in that bold and skillful 
sailor, Martin Feobisher. Himself poor, Dudley, earl of Warwick, 
came to his aid, and fitted out three small vessels to sail in search of a 
north-west passage to Asia. Three-quarters of a century iiad not sufficed 
to destroy the fanatical notion of reaching the Indies by sailing around 
America to the north. One of Frobishor's sliips was lost on the voyage, 
another, terrified at the prospect, returned to England, but in the third the 
dauntless captain proceeded to the north and west until he attained a 
higher latitude than had ever before been reached on the American coast. 
Above the sixtieth parallel he discovered the group of islands which 
lies in the mouth of Hudson's Strait. Still farther to the north he came 
upon a large island which he supposed to be the mainland of Asia ; to 
this he gave the name of Meta Incognita. North of this island, in lati- 
tude sixtj'-three degrees and eight minutes, he entered the strait which 
has ever since borne the name of its discoverer, then sailed for England, 
carrying home with him one of the Esquimaux and a stone which was 
declared by the English refiners to contain gold. 

London was greatly excited. Queen Elizabeth herself added a 
vessel to the new fleet which in the month of May, 1577, departed for 
Meta Incognita to gather the precious metal by the shipload. Coming 
among the icebergs, the ships were for weeks together in constant danger 
of being crushed to atoms between the floating mountains. The summet 
was unf"vorable. No ships reached as high a point as Frobisher had 
attained by himself on the previous voyage. The mariners were in con- 
sternation at the gloomy perils around them, and availed themselves of 
the fii-st opportunity to get out of these dangerous seas and return to 
England. 

Were the English gold-hunters satisfied ? Not at all. Fifteen new 



80 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

vessels were immediately fitted out, the queen again bearing part of the 
exjiense, and as soon as the sjiring of 1578 opened the third voyage was 
begun. This time a colony was to be planted in the gold-regions of the 
north. Three of the ships, loaded with emigrants, were to remain in the 
promised land. The other twelve were to be freighted with gold-ore and 
return to London. When they reached the entrance to Hudson's Strait, 
they encountered icebergs more terrible than ever. Through a thousand 
perils the vessels finally reached Meta Incognita and took on cargoes of 
dirt. The provision-ship now slipped away from the fleet and returned 
to England. Affliire grew desperate. The north-west passage was for- 
gotten. The colony which was to be plantetl was no longer thought of. 
Faith in the shining earth which they had stored in the holds gave way, 
and so, with disappointed crews on board and several tons of the spurious 
ore under the hatches, the ships set sail for home. The El Dorado of the 
Esquimaux had proved an utter failure. 

The English admiral, Sir Francis Drake, sought fortune in a 
different manner. \Vithr)ut much regard for the law of nations, he began, 
in the year 1572, to prey upon the merchant-ships of Spain, and gained 
thereby enormous wealth. Five years later he sailed around to the Pacific 
coast bv the route which Magellan had discovered, and became a terror to 
the Spanish vessels in those waters. When he had thus sufficiently en- 
riched himself by a process not very different from piracy, he formed the 
daring project of tracing up the western coast of North America until he 
should enter the nortli-west ])assage from the Pacific, and thence sail cast- 
ward around the continent. With this object in view, he sailed northward 
along the coast as far as Oregon, when his sailors, who had been for seve- 
ral years within the tropics, began to shiver with the cold, and the enter- 
prise, which could have resulted in nothing but disaster, -was given up. 
Returning to the south, Drake passed the winter of 1579-80 in a harbor 
on the coast of Mexico. To all that portion of the western shores of 
America which he had thus explored he gave the name of New Albion ; 
but the earlier discovery of the same coast by the Spaniards rendered the 
English claim of but little value. No colony of Englishmen had yet 
been established in the New World. 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert was perhaps the first to conceive a rational 
plan of colonization in America. His idea was to form somewhere on the 
shores of the New Continent an agricultural and commercial state. With 
this purpose he sought aid from the queen, and received a liberal patent 
authorizing him to take possession of any six hundred square miles of 
unoccupied territory in America, and to plant thereon a colony of which 
he himself should be proprietor and governor. With this commission. 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 81 

Gilbert, assisted by liis illustrious step-brother, Walter Raleigh, jire- 
pared a fleet of five vessels, and iu June of 1 583 sailed for the west. 
Only two davs after their departure the best vessel in the fleet treacher- 
ously abandoned the rest and returned to Plymouth. Early in August, 
Gilbert reached Newfoundland, and going ashore, took formal possession 
of the country in the name of his queen. Unfortunately, some of the 
sailors discovered in the side of a hill scales of mica, and a judge of 
metals, whom Gilbert had been foolish enough to bring with him, de- 
clared that the glittering mineral was silver ore. The crews became in- 
subordinate. Some went to digging the supposed silver and carrying it 
on board the vessels, while others gratified their piratical propensities by 
attacking the Spanish and Portuguese ships that were fishing in the 
neighboring harbors. 

Meanwhile, one of Gilbert's vessels became worthless, and had to be 
abandoned. With the other three he left Newfoundland, and steered 
toward the south. When off the coast of Massachusetts, the largest of 
the remaining ships was M'rccked, and a hundred men, with all the spuri- 
ous silver ore, went to the bottom. The disaster was so great that Gilbert 
determined to return at once to England. The weather was stormy, and 
the two ships that were now left were utterly unfit for the sea ; but the 
voyage was begun in hope. The brave captain remained in the weaker 
vessel, a little frigate called the Squirrel, already shattered and ready to 
sink. At midnight, as the ships, within hailing distance of each other, 
were struggling through a raging sea, the Squirrel was suddenly en- 
gulfed ; not a man of the courageous crew was saved. The other ship 
finally reached Falmouth in safety. 

But the project of colonization was immediately renewed by Raleigh. 
In the following spring that remarkable man obtained from the queen a 
new patent fully as liberal as the one granted to Gilbert. Raleigh was to 
become lord-proprietor of an extensive tract of country in America ex- 
tending from the thirty-third to the fiirtieth parallel of north latitude. 
This territory was to be peopled and organized into a state. The frozen 
regions of the north were now to be avoided, and the sunny country of 
the Huguenots was to be chosen as the seat of the rising empire. Two 
ships were fitted out, and the command given to Philip Amidas and 
Arthur Barlow. 

In the month of July the vessels reached the coast of Carolina. 
The sea that laved the long, low beach was smooth and glassv. The 
woods were full of beauty and song. The natives Avere generous and 
hospitable. Explorations were made along the shores of Albemarle and 
Pamlico Sounds, and a landing finally effected on Roanoke Island, where 



82 HISTORY OF THE VXITED STATES. 

the English were entertained by the Indian queen. But neither Amid;ui 
nor Barlow h^id the courage or genius necessary to such an enterprise. 
After a stay of less than two months they returned to England to exhaust 
the rhetoric of description in praising the beauties of the new land. In 
allusion to her own life and reign, Elizabeth gave to her delightful 
country in the New World the name of Virginia. 

In December of 1584, Sir Walter brought forward a bill in Par- 
liament by which his previous patent was confirmetl and enlarged. The 
mind of the whole nation was inflamed at the prospects which Raleigh's 
province now offered to emigrants and adventurers. The plan of coloni- 
zation, so far from being abandoned, was undertaken with renewed zeal and 
earnestness. The proprietor fitted out a second expedition, and appointed 
the soldierly Ralph Lane governor of the colony. Sir Richard Gren- 
ville commanded the fleet, and a company, not unmixed with the gallant 
young nobility of the kingdom, made up the crew. Sailing froni Ply- 
mouth, the fleet of seven vessels reached the American coast on the 20th 
of June. At Cape Fear they were in imminent danger of Ijcing wrecked ; 
but having escaped the peril, they six days afterward reached Roanoke in 
safety. Here Lane was left with a hundred and ten of the emigrants to 
form a settlement. Grenville, after making a few unsatisfactory explora- 
tions, returned to England, taking with him a Spanish treasure-ship \\hicl: 
he had captured. Privateering and colonization went hand in hand. 

INIeanwhile, some Indians of a village adjacent to Roanoke had 
committed a petty theft, and the English wantonly burned the whole 
town as a measure of revenge. Jealousy and suspicion took the place of 
former friendships. Lane and some of his companions were enticed with 
false stories to go on a gold-hunting expedition into the interior ; their 
destruction was ]>lanned, and only avoided by a hasty retreat to Roanoke. 
Wingina, the Indian king, and several of his chiefs were now in turn 
allured into the power of the English and inhumanly murdered. Hatred 
and gloom f()llowed this atrocity, then despondency and a sense of danger, 
until the discouragement became so great that when Sir Francis Di"ake, 
returning with a fleet from his exploits on the Pacific coast, came in sight, 
the colonists prevailed on him to carry them back to England. 

It was a needless and hasty abandonment, for within a few days a 
shipload of stores arrived from the prudent Raleigh; but finding no colony, 
the vessel could do nothing but return. Two weeks later Sir Richard 
Grenville himself came back to Roanoke with three well-laden ships, and 
made a fruitless search for the colonists. Not to lose possession of the 
country altogether, he left fifteen men upon the island, and set sail for 
home. 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 83 

The ardor of the Englis^h people was now somewhat cooled. Yet 
they had before them truthful descriptions ot' the beauty and mag- 
nificence of the new country, and another colony, consisting largely of 
families, was easily made up. A charter of municipal government was 
granted by the proprietor, John White was chosen governor, and every 
precaution taken to secure the permanent success of the City of Raleigh, 
soon to be founded in the west. In July the emigrants arrived in Caro- 
lina. Avoiding tiie dangerous capes of Hatteras and Fear, they came 
safely to Eoanoke ; but a search for the fifteen men who had been left 
there a year before only revealed the fact that the natives, now grown 
savage, had murdered them. Nevertheless, the northern extremity of 
the ill-omened island was chosen as the site for the city, and on the 23d 
of the month the foundations were laid. 

But disaster attended the enteii^rise. Jealousy between the settlers 
and the Indians grew into hostility, and hostility into war. Then a peace 
was concluded, and Sir Walter gave countenance to an absurd perform- 
ance by which Manteo, one of the Indian chiefs, was made a peer of 
England, with the title of Lord of Roanoke. It was a silly and stupid 
piece of business. Notwithstanding the presence of this copper-colored 
nobleman, the colonists were apprehensive and gloomy. They pretended 
to fear starvation, and in the latter part of August almost compelled 
Governor White to return to England for an additional cargo of supplies. 
It was a great mistake. If White had remained, and the settlers had 
given themselves to tilling the soil and building houses, uo further help 
would have been needed. The 18th of August was marked as the birth- 
day of Virginia Dare, the first-born of English children in the New 
World. When White set sail for England, he left behind him a colony 
of a hundred and eight persons. What their fate was has never been 
ascertained. The story of their going ashore and joining the Indians is 
unlikely in itself, and has no historical evidence to support it. 

The Invincible Armada was now bearing down upon the coasts of 
England. All the resources and energies of the kingdom were demanded 
for defence; and although Raleigh managed to send out two supply- 
ships to succor his starving colony, his efforts to reach them were unavail- 
ing. The vessels which he sent with stores went cruising after Spanish 
merchantmen, and were themselves run down and captured by a man-of- 
war. Not until the spring of 1590 did the governor finally return to 
search for the unfortunate colonists. The island was a desert, tenantless 
and silent. No soul remained to tell the story of the lost. 

In the mean time, Sir Walter, after spending two hundred thou- 
sand dollars of his own means in the attempt to found and foster a colony, 



84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

liad given up the enterprLse. He assigned his exclusive proprietary rights 
to an association of Loudon nierchant.s, and it was under their auspices 
that White had made the final search for the settlers of Roanoke. From 
the date of this event very little in the way of voyage and discovery was 
accomplished by the English until the year 1602, when maritime enter- 
prise again brought the flag of England to the shores of America. Bar. 
THOLOMEW GosNOLD was the man to whom belongs the honor of mak- 
ing the next explorations of our coast. 

The old route from the shores of Europe to America was very cir- 
cuitous. Ships from the ports of England, France and Spain sailed first 
southward to the Canary Islands, thence to the West Indies, and thence 
northward to the coast-line of the continent. Abandoning this path as 
unnecessarily long and out of tlic way, Gosnold, in a single small vessel 
called the Concord, sailed directly across the Atlantic, and in seven weeks 
reached the coast of Maine. The distance thus gained was fully two 
thousand miles. It was Gosnold's object to found a colony, and for 
that purpose a company of emigrants came with him. Beginning at 
Cape Elizabeth, explorations were made to the southward ; Cape Cod 
was reached, and here the captain, \\ith four of his men, went on shore. 
It was the first landing of Englishmen within the limits of New Eng- 
land. Cape Malabar was doultlcd, and then the vessel, leaving Nantucket 
on the right, turned into Buzzard's Bay. Selecting the most Avesterly 
island of the Elizabeth group, the colonists went on sliore, and there be- 
gan tlic first New England settlement. 

It was a short-lived enterprise. A traffic M^as opened ^vith the 
natives which resulted in loading the Concord with sassafras root, so much 
esteemed for its fragrance and healing virtues. Everything went well for 
a season ; but when the ship was about to depart for England, the settlers 
became alarmed at the prospect before them, and pleaded for permission to 
return with their friends. Gosnold acceded to their demands, and the 
island was abandoned. After a pleasant voyage of five weeks, and in 
less than four months from the time of starting, the Concord reached 
home in safety. 

Gosnold and his companions gave glowing accounts of the country 
which they had visited, and it was not long until another English expe- 
dition to America was planned. Two vessels, the Speedwell and the 
Discoverer, composed the fleet, with Martin Pring for commander. A 
cargo of merchandise suited to the tastes of the Indians was put Into 
the holds; and in April of 160:1, a few days after the death of Queen 
Elizabeth, the vessels sailed for America. They came safely to Penobscot 
Bay, and afterward spent some time in exploring the harbors and shores 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 85 

of Maine. Then, turning to the south and coasting Massachusetts, Priug 
reached the sassafras region, and loaded liis vessels at Martha's Vineyard. 
Thence lie returned to England, reaching Bristol in October, after an 
absence of six months. 

Two years later, George Waymouth, under the patronage of the 
earl of Southampton, made a voyage to America, and passing Cape Cod 
on tlie left, came to anchorage among the islands of St. George, on the 
coast of Maine. He explored the harbor, and sailed up the river for a 
considerable distance, taking note of the fine forests of fir and of the 
beautiful scener}- along the banks. A profitable trade was opened with 
the Indians, some of whom learned to speak English and returned with 
Waymouth to England. The voyage homeward was safely made, the 
vessels reaching Plymouth about the middle of June. This was tlie last 
of the voyages made by the English preparatory to the actual establish- 
ment of a colony in America. The time had at last arrived when, in the 
beautiful country of the Chesapeake, a permanent settlement should be 
eifected. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ENGLISH DISCOVERIES AXD SETTLEMENTS.— CONTINUED. 

THE 10th of April, 1606, was full of flite in the destinies of the west- 
ern continent. On that day King James I. issued two great patents 
directed to men of his kingdom, authorizing them to possess and colo- 
nize all that portion of North America lying between the thirty-fourth 
and forty-fifth parallels of latitude. The immense tract thus embraced 
extended from the mouth of Cape Fear River to Passamaquoddy Bay, 
and westward to the Pacific Ocean. The first patent was granted to an 
association of nobles, gentlemen and merchants residing at London, and 
called the London Company, while the second instrument was issued 
to a similar body which had been organized at Plymouth, in South-west- 
ern England, and which bore the name of the Plymouth Company. 
To the former corporation was assigned all the region between the thirty- 
fourth and the thirty-eighth degrees of latitude, and to the latter the tract 
extending from the fiirty-first to the forty-fifth degree. The narrow belt 
of three degrees lying between the thirty-eighth and forty-first parallels 
was to be equally open to the colonies of either company, but no settle- 



86 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ment of one party was to be made within leas than one hundred miles 
of the nearest settlement of tiie other. The nature and extent of these 
grants will be tully understood from an examination of tlie aoeompanv- 
ing map. Only the London Company was successful under its cliartcr 
in planting an American colony. 

Tlie man who was chiefly instrmnental in organizing the Ivondon 
Company Avas Bartholomew Gosnold. His leading associates were Edward 
Wingficld, a rich merchant, Robert Hunt, a clergyman, and John Smith, 
a man of genius. Others who aided the enterprise were Sir John Pop- 
ham, chief-justice of England, Richard Hakluyt, a historian, and Sir 
Ferdinand Gorges, a distinguished iK)bleman. By the terms of the char- 
ter, the aiFairs of the company ^\•cre to be administered by a Superior 
Council, residing in England, and an Inferior Council, residing in the 
colony. The members of the former body were to be cliosen by the king, 
and to hold office at his pleasure ; the members of the lower council were 
also selected by the royal direction, and were subject to removal by the 
same power. All legislative authority was likewise vested in the mon- 
arch. In the first organization of tiie companies not a single principle 
of self-government was admitted. Tiie most foolish clause in tlie patent 
was that which required the proposed colony or colonies to hold all prop- 
erty in common fir a jwriod of li\e years. The wisest provision in the 
instrument was that N\liicli allowed the emigrants to retain in tiie New 
World all the rights and privileges of Englishmen. 

In tlie month of August, IGOfi, the Plymouth Company sent their 
first ship to America. The voyage, which was one of exploration, 
was but half completed, when tlie company's vessel was captured by a 
Spanish man-of-war. In the autumn another ship was sent out, which 
vemained on the American coast until the following spring, and then 
i-eturned with glowing accounts of the country. Encouraged by these 
reports, the company, in the summer of 1607, despatched a colony of a 
hundred persons. Arriving at the mouth of the River Kennebec, the 
colonists began a settlement under fovorable circumstances. Some forti- 
fications were thrown up, a storehouse and several cabins built, and the 
place named St. George. Then the ships returned to England, leaving 
a promising colony of forty-five members; but tlie winter of 1607-8 
was very severe ; some of the settlers were starved and some frozen, the 
storehouse burned, and wlien summer came the remnant escaped to 
England. 

The London Company had better fortune. A fleet of three vessels 
was fitted out, and the command given to Christoph<?r New|3ort. On the 
9th of December the ships, having on board a huncU-ed and five colonists, 




MAP ni. 
english;;grants. 

1606—1732. 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 87 

among whom were Wingfiekl and Smith, left England. Newport, to 
begin with, committed the astonishing folly of taking the old route by 
way of the Canaries and the West Indies, and did not reach the American 
coast until the month of Ajiril. It was the design that a landing should 
be made in the neighborhood of Roanoke Island, but a storm prevailed 
and carried the ships northward into the Chesapeake. Entering the 
magnificent bay and coasting along the southern shore, the vessels came 
to the mouth of a broad and beautiful river, which was named in honor 
of King James. Proceeding up this stream about fifty miles, Newport 
noticed on the northern bank a peninsula more attractive than the rest 
for its verdure and beauty ; the ships were moored, and the emigrants 
went on shore. Here, on the 13th day of May (Old Style), in the year 
1607, were laid the foundations of Jamestown, the oldest English settle- 
ment in America. It was within a month of a hundred and ten years 
after the discovery of the continent by the elder Cabot, and nearly forty- 
two years after the founding of St. Augustine. So long a time had been 
required to plant the first feeble germ of English civilization in the New 
^^'orld. 

After the unsuccessful attempt to form a settlement at the mouth 
of the Kennebec, very little was done by the Plymouth Company for 
several years ; yet the jiurpose of planting colonies was not relinquished. 
Meanwhile, a new impetus was given to the aifairs of North Virginia by 
the ceaseless activity and exhaustless energies of John Smith. Wounded 
bv an accident, and discouraged, as far as it was possible for such a man 
to be discouraged, by the distractions and turbulence of the Jamestown 
colony, Smith left that settlement in 1600, and returned to England. On 
recovering his health he formed a partnersiiip with four wealthy mer- 
chants of London, with a view to the fur-trade and probable establish- 
ment of colonies within the limits of the Plymoutii grant. Two ships 
were accordingly freighted with goods and put under Smith's command. 
The summer of 1614 was spent on the coast of lower Maine, where a 
profitable traffic was carried on with the Indians. The crews of the ves- 
sels were well satisfied through the long days of July with the plea- 
sures and profits of the teeming fisheries, but Smith himself found nobler 
work. Beginning as far north as practicable, he patiently explored the 
country, and drew a map of the whole coast-line from the Penobscot 
River to Cape Cod. In this map, which is still extant, and a marvel of 
accuracy considering the circumstances under which it M'as made, the 
country was called New England — a name which Prince Charles con- 
firmed, and which has ever since remained as the designation of the North- 
€astern States of the republic. In the month of November the ships re- 



88 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

tunifcl to i'lynioutli, taking with them many substantial proots of a suc- 
cessful voyage. 

Smith now pleaded more strong!}- than ever in behalf of eoloniza- 
tion. Some of his friends in the Plymouth Company gave him aid, and 
in 1615 a small colony of sixteen persons was sent out in a single ship. 
When nearing the Ameriean coast, they encountered a terrible storm, and 
after being driven about for two or three weeks were obliged to return tc 
England. In spite of these reverses, the undaunted leader renewed the 
enterprise, and again raised a company of emigrants. Part of his crew 
became mutinous, betrayed him, and left him in mid-ocean. His own 
ship was run down and captured by a band of French pirates, and him- 
self imprisoned in the harbor of Roclielle. Later in the same year he 
escaped in an oj)en boat and made his M'ay back to London. With as- 
tonishing industry, he now pul:)lished a description of New England, 
and was more zealous than ever in inciting the company of Plymouth to 
energetic action. In these efforts he was nuich imjteded. The Ijondon 
Company was jealous of its rival, and jiut obstacles in the wa}' of every 
enterprise. The whole of the years 1617-18 was spent in making and 
unmaking plans of colonization, until finally, on the petition of some of 
its own leading members, the Plymouth Company was formally super- 
seded by a new corporation called the Council of Plymouth, consisting 
of forty of the most wealthy and influential men of the kingdom. On 
this body were conferred, by the terms of the new charter, almost un- 
limited powers and privileges. All that part of America lying between 
the fortieth and the forty -eighth parallels of north latitude, and extending 
from ocean to ocean, was given to the council in fee simple. More than a 
million of square miles were embraced in the grant, and absolute jurisdic- 
tion over this immense tract was connnitted to forty men. How King 
James was e\er induced to sign such a charter Imis remained an unsolved 
mystery. 

A ])lan of colonizing was now projected on a grand scale. John 
Smith was apjMiinted admiral of New England for life. The king, not- 
withstanding the opposition of the House of Connnons, issued a procla- 
mation enforcing the provisions of the charter, and everything gave 
])romise of the early settlement of America. Such were the schemes of 
men to possess and ])eople the Western Continent. Meanwhile, a Power 
higher than the will of man was working in the same direction. The 
time had come when, without the knowledge or consent of James I., 
without the knowledge or consent of the Council of Plymouth, a per- 
manent settlement should be made on the bleak shores of New England. 

The Puritans ! Name of all names in the early history of the 



VOYAGE AXD DISCOVERY. 89 

West ! About the close of tlie sixteenth century a number of poor dis- 
senters scattered through the North of England, especially in the counties 
of Nottingham, Lincoln and York, began to join themselves together for 
the purposes of free religious worship. Politically, they were patriotic 
subjects of the English king; religiously, they were rebels against the 
authority of the English Church. Their rebellion, however, only ex- 
tended to the declaration that every man has a right to discover and ap- 
ply the truth as revealed in the Scriptures without the interposition of 
any power other than his own reason and conscience. Sucli a doctrine was 
very repugnant to the Church of England. Queen Elizabeth herself 
declared such teaching to be subversive of the principles on which her 
monarchy was founded. King James was not more tolerant ; and from 
time to time violent persecutions broke out against the feeble and dis- 
persed Christians of the north. 

Despairing of rest in their own country, the Puritans finally deter- 
mined to go into exile, and to seek in another land the freedom of wor- 
ship which their own had denied them. They turned their faces toward 
Holland, made one unsuccessful attempt to get away, were brought back 
and tiirown into jirisons. Again they gathered together on a bleak lieath 
in Lincolnshire, and in the spring of 1G08 embarked from the mouth of 
the Humber. Their ship brought them in safety to Amsterdam, where, 
under the care of their heroic pastor, John Robinson, they passed one 
winter, and then removed to Lcyden. Such was the beginning of their 
■wandering. They took the name of Pilgrims, and grew content to have 
no home or resting-place. Privation and exile could be endured when 
sweetened with liberty. 

But the love of native land is a universal passion. The Puritans 
in Holland did not forget — could not forget — that they were Englishmen. 
During their ten years of residence at Leyden they did not cease to long 
for a return to the country which had cast them out. Though ruled by 
a heartless monarch and a bigoted priesthood, England was their country 
still. The unfamiliar language of the Dutch grated harshly on their ears. 
They i)ined with unrest, conscious of their ability and willingness to do 
something which should convince even King James of their patriotism 
and worth. 

It was in this condition of mind that abou*^ the year 1617 the 
Puritans began to meditate a removal to the wilds of the New World. 
There, with honest j)urpose and prudent zeal, they would extend the 
dominions of the English king. They would forget the past, and be at 
peace with their country. Accordingly, John Carver and Robert Cush- 
man were despatched to England to ask permission for the churcli of 



00 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Leyden to settle in America. Tlie aji^ents of the London Company 
and the Council of Plymouth gave some encouragement to the request, 
but the king and his ministers, especially Lord Bacon, set their faces 
agaiust any project which might seem to favor heretics. The most that 
King James ^^•ould do was to make an informal promise to let the Pil- 
grims alone in America. Sucii has always been the despicable attitude 
of bigotry toward every liberal enterprise. 

The Puritans were not discouraged. With or without permission, 
protected or not protected by the terms of a charter which might at best 
be violated, they would seek asylum and i-est in the Western wilderness. 
Out of their own resources, and with the help of a tew faithful friends, 
they provided the scanty means of departure and set their faces toward 
the sea. The Speedwell, a small vessel of sixt)' tons, was ]>urchased at 
Amsterdam, and the ISIayflower, a larger and more substantial sliip, was 
hired for the voyage. The former was to carry the emigrants from Ley- 
den to Southampton, where they were to be joined by the Mayflower, with 
another company from London. Assembling at the harbor of Delft, on 
the River Meuse, fifteen miles .south of Leyden, as many of the Pilgrims 
as could be ■accommodated went on board the Speedwell. The whole con- 
gregation accompanied them to the shore. There Robinson gave them a 
consoling farewell address, and the blessings and prayers of those who 
■were left behind followed the vessel out of sight. 

Both ships came safely to Southampton, and within two weeks the 
emigrants were ready for the voyage. Ou the 5th of August, 1620, the 
vessels left the harbor ; but after a few days' sailing the Speedwell was 
found to be shattered, old and leaky. On this account both ships an- 
chored in the port of Dartmouth, and eight days were spent in making 
the needed repairs. Again the sails were set ; but scarcely had the land 
receded from sight before the captain of the Speedwell declared his vessel 
unfit to breast the ocean, and then, to the great grief and discouragement 
of the emigrants, put back to Plymouth. Here the bad ship was aban- 
doned ; but the Pilgrims were encouraged and feasted by the citizens, and 
the more zealous went on board the Mayflower, ready and anxious for a 
final effort. On the 6th day of September the first colony of New Eng- 
land, numbering one hundred and two souls, saw the shores of Old 
England grow dim and sink behind the sea. 

The voyage was long and jjcrilous. For si.xtj'-three days the ship 
was buffeted by storms and driven. It had been the intention of the 
Pilgrims to found their colony in the beautiful countr}' of the Hud.son ; 
but the tempest carried them out of their course, and the first land seen 
was the desolate Cape Cod. On the 9th of November the vessel waa 




m 






m 



VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY 91 

anchored in tlie bay ; tlien a meeting was held on board and the colony 
organized under a solemn compact. In the charter whicii they there 
made for themselves the emigrants declared their loyalty to the English 
Crown, and covenanted together to live in peace and harmony, with equal 
rights to all, obedient to just laws made for the common good. Such was 
the simple but sublime constitution of the oldest New England State. A 
nobler document is not to be found among the records of the world.* To 
this instrument all the heads of families, forty-one in number, solemnly 
eet their names. An election was helil in \\'hich all had an equal voice, 
and John Carver was unanimously chosen governor of the colony. 

After two days the boat was lowered, but was found to be half 
rotten and useless. More thmi a fortnight of precious time M'as required 
t» make the needed repairs. Standish, Bradford and a few other hardy 
spirits got to shore and explored the country ; nothing was found but a 
heap of Indian corn under the snow. By the 6th of December the boat 
was ready for service, and the governor, with fifteen companions, went 
ashore. The weather was dreadful. Alternate rains and snow-storms 
converted the clothes of the Pilgrims into coats-of-mail. All day they 
wandered about, and then returned to the sea-shore. In the morning 
they were attacked by the Indians, but escaped to the ship with their 
lives, cheerful and giving thanks. Then the vessel was steered to the 
south and west for forty-five miles around the coast of what is now the 
county of Barnstable. At nightfall of Saturday a storm came on ; the 
rudder was wrenched away, and the poor ship driven, half by accident 
and half by the skill of the pilot, into a safe haven on the west side 
of the bay. The next day, being the Sabbath, was spent in religious 
devotions, and on Monday, the 11th of December, Old Style, 1620, the 
Pilgrim Fathers landed on the Rock of Plymouth. 

It was now the dead of winter. There was an incessant storm of 
sleet and snow, and the houseless immigrants, already enfeebled by their 
sufferings, fell a-dying of hunger, cold and exposure. After a few days 
spent in explorations about the coast, a site was selected near the first 
landing, some trees were felled, the snow-drifts cleared away, and on the 
9th of January the heroic toilers began to build New Plymouth. Every 
man took on himself the work of making his own house; but the rav- 
ages of disease grew daily woi-se, strong arms fell powerless, lung-fevers 
and consumptions wasted every family. At one time only seven men 
were able to work on the sheds which were building for shelter from the 
storms ; and if an early spring had not brought relief, the colony must 
have perished to a man. Such were the privations and griefs of that 
terrible winter when New England began to be. 

* See Appendix, note B 



92 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

VOYAGES AND SETTLEMENTS OF THE DUTCH. 

THE first Dutch settlement in America was made on ^lanhattan or 
New York Island. Tlie colon}' resulted from the voyages and 
explorations of the illustrious Sir Henry Hudson. In the year 1607 
this great British seaman was eini)loyed by a company of London mer- 
chants to sail into the North Atlantic and discover a route ea.stward or 
westward to the Indies. He made the voyage in a single sliiji, passed up 
the eastern coast of Greenland to a higher point of latitude than ever 
before attained, turned eastward to Spitzbergen, circumnavigated that 
island, and then was compelled by the icebergs to return to England. In 
the next year he renewed his eftbrts, hoping to find between iSj)itzbergen 
and Nova Zembla an open way to the East. By this course he confi- 
dently expected to shorten the route to China by at least eight thousand 
miles. Again the voyage resulted in failure; his employers gave up tlie 
enterprise in despair, but his own spirits only rose to a liigher determi- 
nation. When the cautious merchants would furnish no more means, he 
quitted England and went to Amsterdam. Holland Mas at this time the 
foremost maritime nation of the world, and the eminent navigator did not 
long go begging for jiatronagc in the busy marts of that country. The 
Dutch East India Company at once furnished him with a ship, a small 
yacht called the Half Moon, and in April of 1609 he set out on his 
third voyage to reach the Indies. About the seventy-second parallel of 
latitude, above the capes of NorM'ay, he turned eastward, but between 
Lapland and Nova Zembla the ocean was filled with icebergs, and further 
sailing was impossible. Baffled but not discouraged, he immediately 
turned his prow toward the shores of America ; somewhere between the 
Chesapeake and tlie North Pole he would find a passage into the Pacific 
ocean. 

In the month of July Hudson reached Newfoundland, and pa.ssing 
to the coast of Maine, spent some time in repairing liis ship, which had 
been shattered in a storm. Sailing thence southward, he touched at Cape 
Cod, and by the middle of August found himself as far south as the 
Chesapeake. Again he turned to the nortli, determined to examine the 
coast more closely, and on the 28th of the month anchored in Delaware 



VOYAGi: AND DISCOVERY. 93 

Bay. After one day's explorations the voyage was continued along tlie 
coast of New Jersey, until, on tlie 3d of September, the Half Moon came 
to a safe anchorage in the bay of Sandy Hook. Two days later a land- 
ing was effected, the natives flocking in great numbers to the scene, and 
bringing gifts of corn, \\ild fruits and oysters. The time until the 9tli 
of the month was spent in sounding the great harbor; on the next day 
the vessel passed the Narrows, and then entered the noble river which 
l)ears the name of Hudson. 

To explore the beautiful stream was now the plea.sing task. For 
eight days the Half jVIoon sailed nortliward up the river. Such mag- 
nificent forests, such beautiful hills, such mountains rising in the distance, 
such fertile valleys, planted here and there Avith rijaening corn, the Neth- 
erlanders had never seen before. On the 19th of September the vessel 
was moored at what is now the landing of Kinderliook ; but an exj^loring 
party, still unsatisfied, took to the boats and rowed up the river beyond 
the site of Albany. After some days they returned to the ship, the moor- 
ings were loosed, the vessel drop^jed down the stream, and on the 4th of 
October the sails were spread for "Holland. On the homeward voyage 
Hudson, not perhaps without a touch of national pride, put into the har- 
bor of Dartmouth. Thereupon the government of King James, with 
characteristic illiberality, detained the Half Moon, and claimed the crew 
as Englishmen. All that Hudson could do was to forward to his employ- 
ers of the East India Company an account of his successful voyage and 
of the delightful country which lie had visited under the flag of Holland. 

Now were the English merchants ready to spend more money to 
find the north-west passage. In the summer of 1610, a ship, called the 
Discovery, was given to Hudson ; and with a vision of the Indies flitting 
before his imagination he left England, never to return. He had learned 
by this time that nowhere between Florida and Maine was there an open- 
ing through the continent to the Pacific. The famous pass must now be 
sought between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the southern point of 
Greenland. Steering between Cape Farewell and Labrador, in the track 
which Frobisher had taken, the vessel came, on the 2d day of August, 
into the mouth of the strait which bears the name of its discoverer. No 
ship had ever before entered these Avaters. For a while the way west- 
ward was barred with islands ; but passing between them, the bay seemed 
to open, the ocean widened to the right and left, and the route to China 
was at last revealed. So believed the great captain and his crew ; but 
sailing farther to the west, the inhospitable shores narrowed on the more 
inhospitable sea, and Hudson found himself environed with the terrors 
of winter in the frozen gulf of the North. With unfaltering courage he 



94 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

bore up until liis; provisions •were almost exliaustcd; spring ■was at hand, 
and the day of escape had already arrived, when the treacherous crew 
broke out in mutiny. They seized Hudson and his only son, with seven 
other faithful sailors, threw them into an open shallop, and east them off 
among the icebergs. Tlie fate of tlie illustrious mariner has never been 
ascertained. 

In the summer of 1010 the Half Moon was liberated at Dartmouth, 
and returned to Amsterdam. In the same year several ships owned by 
Dutch merchants sailed to the banks of the Hudson River and engaged 
in the fur-trade. The traffic was very lucrati\e, and in the two following 
vears other vessels made frequent and jjrofitable voyages. Early in 1614 
an act was passed by the States-General of Holland giving to certain 
merchants of Amsterdam the exclusive right to trade and establish settle- 
ments within the limits of the country explored by Hudson. Under this 
connnission a fleet of five small trading-vessels arrived in the summer of 
the same year at Manhattan Island. Here some rude huts had already 
been built by former traders, but now a fort for the defence of the place 
was erected, and the settlement named' New Amsterdam. In the course 
of the autumn Adrian Block, who commanded one of the ships, sailed 
through East River into Long Island Sound, made explorations along the 
coast as far as the mouth of the C'omiecticut, thence to Xarraganset Bay, 
and even to Cape Cod. Almost at the same time Christianson, another 
Dutch commander, in the same fleet, sailed up the river from jNIanhattan 
to Castle Island, a short distance below the site of Albany, and erected a 
block -hoase, which was named FortNa.ssau, for a long time the northern 
outpost of the settlers on the Hudson. Meanwhile, Cornelius ISIay, the 
captain of a small vessel called the Fortune, sailed from New Amsterdam 
and explored the Jersey coast as far south as the Bay of Delaware. Upon 
these two voyages, one north and the other south from Manhattan Island 
•where the actual settlement was made, Holland set up a feeble claim to 
the country which was now named New Netiierlaxds, extending from 
Cape Henlopen to Cape Cod — a claim which Great Britain and France 
treated with derision and contemjit. Such were the feeble and inaus- 
picious beginnings of the Dutch colonies in New York and Jei-sey. 



PART III. 

COLONIAL HISTORY. 

A. D. 1607—1775. 



PARENT COLONIES. 



CHAPTER IX. 
VIRGINIA.— THE FIRST CHARTER. 

MANY circumstances impeded the progress of the oldest Virginia 
colony. The first settlers at Jamestown were idle, improvident, 
dissolute. Of the one hundred and five men who came with Newport 
in the spring of 1607, only twelve were common laborers. There were 
four carpenters in the company, anel six or eight masons and blacksmiths, 
but the lack of mechanics wa.s compensated by a long list of forty-eiglit 
gentlemen. If necessity had not soon driven these to the honorable 
vocations of toil, the colony nuist have jterished. The few married men 
who joined the expedition had left their families in England. The pros- 
pect of planting an American State on the banks of James River was 
not at all encouraging. 

From the first the affairs of the colony were badly managed. King 
James made out instructions for tiie organization of the new State, and 
then, with his usual stupidity, sealed up the parchment in a box whicli 
was not to be opened until the arrival of the emigrants in America. The 
names of the governor and members of the council were thus unknown 
during the voyage ; there was no legitimate authority on shipboard ; 
insubordination and anarchy prevailed among the riotous company. In 
this state of turbulence and misrule, an absurd suspicion was blown out 
against Captain John Smith, the best and truest man in the colony. He 
was accused of making a plot to murder the council, of which he ^\■as 
supposed to be a member, and to make himself monarch of Virginia. 
An arrest followed, and confinement until the end of the voyage. When 
at last the colonists reached the site of their future settlement, the king's 
instructions were unsealed and the names of the seven members of tli© 



96 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Inferior Council made kno\\Ti. Then a meeting of that body was held 
and Edward "Wingfield duly elected first governor of Virginia. Smith, 
who had been set at liberty, was now charged with sedition and excluded 
from his seat in the council. He demanded to l)e tried ; and when it was 
found that his jealous enemies could bring nothing but their own suspi- 
cions against him, he was acquitted, and finally, through the good offices 
of Robert Hunt, restored to his place as a member of the corporation. 

As soon as the settlement was m'cU begun and the aftairs of the colony 

came into a better 
condition, tiie rest- 
less Smith, accom- 
panied by K^ew- 
port n.nd twenty 
others, ascended 
and explored 
James River fi)r 
forty-five miles. 
This was the first 
of those marvelous 
expeditions which 
were undertaken 
and carried out by 
Smith's enterprise 
and daring. Just 
below the falls of 
the river, at the 
present site of 
Richmond, the 
English explorers 
came upon the 
capital of Pow- 
hatan, the Indian king. Smith was not greatly impressed with the mag- 
nificence of an empire whose chief city was a squalid village of twelve 
wigwams. The native monarch received the foreigners with formal 
courtesy and used his authority to moderate the dislike which his sub- 
jects manifested at the intrusion. About the last of May the company 
returned to Jamestown, and fifteen days later Newport embarked for 
England. 

The colonists now for the first time began to realize their situation. 
They M'ere alone amid the solitudes of the New "World. The beauties 
of the Virginia wilderness were around them, but the terrors of the 




CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 



YIMGINIA.— FIRST CHARTER. 97 

approaching winter were already present to their imagination. In the 
latter part of August dreadful diseases broke out in the settlement, and 
the colony was brought to the verge of ruin. The fort which had been 
built for the defence of the plantation was filled with the sick and dying. 
At one time no more than five men were able to go on duty as sentinels. 
Bartholomew Gosnold, the projector of the colony and one of the best 
men in the council, died, and before the middle of September one-half 
of the whole number had been swept off by the terrible malady. If tlie 
fi'osts of autumn had not come to check the ravages of disease, no soul 
would have been left to tell the story. 

Civil dissension was added to the other calamities of the settlement. 
President Wingfield, an unprincipled man, and his confederate, George 
Kendall, a member of the council, were detected in embezzling the stores 
of the colony. Attempting to escape in the company's vessel, they were 
arrested, impeached and removed from office. Only three councilmen 
now remained, Ratcliffe, Martin and Smith ; the first was chosen presi- 
dent. He was a man who possessed neither ability nor courage, and the 
affiiirs of the settlers grew worse and worse. After a few weeks of vacil- 
lation and incompetency, he, like his predecessor, was caught in an attempt 
to abandon the colony, and willingly gave up an office which he could not 
fill. Only Martin and Smith now remained ; the former elected the lat- 
ter president of Virginia ! It was a forlorn piece of business, but very 
necessary for the public good. In their distress and bitterness there had 
come to pass among the colonists a remarkable unanimity as to Smith's 
merits and abilities. The new administration entered upon the discharge 
of its duties without a particle of opposition. 

The new president, though not j^et thii-fy years of age, was a veteran 
in every kind of valuable human experience. Born an Englishman ; 
trained as a soldier in the wars of Holland ; a traveler in France, Italy 
and Egypt ; again a soldier in Hungary' ; captured by the Turks and 
sold as a slave; sent from Constantinople to a jjrison in the Crimea; 
killing a taskmaster who beat him, and then escaping through the woods 
of Russia to Western Europe ; going with an army of adventurers against 
Morocco ; finally returning to England and joining the Loudon Com- 
pany, — he was now called upon by the very enemies who had persecuted 
and ill-treated him to rescue them and their colony from destruction. A 
strange and wonderful career ! John Smith Mas altogether the most noted 
man in the early history of America. 

Under the new administration the Jamestown settlement soon began 
to show signs of vitality and progress. Smith's first care, after the set- 
tlers were in a measure restored to health, was to improve the buildings 

7 



98 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of the plantation. The fortifications of the place were strengthened, 
dwellings were repaired, a storehouse erected, und everything made ready 
for the coming winter. The next measure -was to secure a supply of pro- 
visions from the surrounding country. A plentiful harvest among the 
Indians had compensated in some degree for the mismanagement and 
rascality of the former officei-s of the colony, but to procure corn from the 
natives was not an easy task. Although ignorant of the Indian language, 
Smith undertook the hazardous enterprise. Descending James River sa 
far as Hampton Roads, he landed with his five companions, went boldly 
among the natives, and began to ofter them hatchets and copper coins in 
exchange for corn. The Indians only laughed at the proposal, and then 
mocked the half-starved foreigners by oifering to barter a piece of bread 
for Smith's sword and musket. Finding that good treatment was only 
thrown away, the English captain formed the desperate resolution of fight- 
ing. He and his men firetl a volley among the affi-ighted savages, who 
ran yelling into the woods. Going straight to their wigwams, he found 
an abundant store of corn, but forbade his men to take a grain until the 
Indians should return to attack them. Sixty or seventy painted warriors, 
headed by a priest who carried an idol in his arms, soon came out of the 
forest and made a violent onset. The English not only stood their ground, 
but made a rush, wounded several of the natives and captured their idol. 
A parley now ensued ; the terrified priest came and humbly begged for his 
fallen deity, but Smith stood grimly with his nuisket across the pros- 
trate idol, and would grant no terms until six unarmed Indians had loaded 
his boat with corn. Then the image was given up, beads and hatchets 
were liberally distributed among the warriors who ratified the peace by 
performing a dance of friendship, while Smith and his men rowed up the 
river with a boat^load of supplies. 

There were other causes of rejoicing at Jamestown. The neighbor- 
ing Indians, made liberal by their own abundance, began to come into 
the fort with voluntary contributions. The fear of famine passed away. 
The woods were full of wild turkeys and other game, inviting to the chase 
as many as delighted in such excitement. Good discipline was maintained 
in the settlement and friendly relations established with several of the 
native tribes. Seeing the end of their distresses, the colonists revived in 
spirit; cheerfiilness and hope took the place of melancholy and despair. 

As soon as the setting in of winter had made an abandonment of 
the colony impossible, the president, to whose ardor winter and summer 
were alike, gave himself freely to the work of exploring the country. 
With a company of six Englishmen and two Indian guides he began the 
ascent of the Chickahominy River. It was generally believed by the 




JOHN SMITH AMONG THE INDiANS. 



VIRGINIA.— FIRST CHARTER. 90 

people of Jamestown that by going up this stream they could reach the 
Pacific Ocean. Smith knew well enough the absurdity of such an opin- 
ion, but humored it because of the opportunity which it gave him to 
explore new territory. The rest might dig imaginary gold-dust and hunt 
for the Pacific; he would see the country and map the course of the 
river. 

The company proceeded up the Chickahomiiiy until their barge ran 
aground in shallow water. Mooring the boat in a place of safety, Smith letl 
four of the Englishmen to guard it, and with the other two and the Indian 
guides ascended the stream in a canoe. When this smaller craft could go 
no fiirther, it was put in charge of the white men, while the captain, with 
only the savages, proceeded on foot. For twenty miles he continued along 
the banks of the river, now dwindled to a mere creek winding about the 
woods and meadows. Meanwhile, the men who were left to protect the 
barge disobeyed their orders, and wandering into the forest, were attacked 
by three huncked Indians under the command of their king, 0{)echan- 
canough, the brother of Powhatan. Three of the Englishmen escaped 
to the boat, but the fourth, George Cassen by name, was taken prisoner. 
Him the savages compelled by torture to reveal the whereabouts of Smith. 
The two men who guarded the canoe were next overtaken and killed. 
The captain himself was at last discovered, attacked, wounded with an 
arrow and chased through the woods. The missiles of the barbarians 
flew around him in a shower, but he compelled the Indian guides to stand 
between him and his enemies, and every discharge of his musket brought 
down a savage. He fought like a lion at bay, tied one of the guides to 
his left arm for a buckler, ran and fired by turns, stumbled into a morass, 
and was finally overtaken. The savages were still wary of their danger- 
ous antagonist until he laid down his gun, made signs of surrender and 
was pulled out of the mire. 

Without exhibiting the least signs of fear. Smith demanded to see 
the Indian chief, and on being taken into the presence of that dignitary 
began to excite his interest and curiosity by showing him a pocket com- 
pass and a watch. These mysterious instruments struck the Indians 
with awe ; and profiting by his momentary advantage, the prisoner began 
to draw figures on the ground, and to give his captors some rude lessons 
in geography and astronomy. The savages were amazed and listened for 
an hour, but then grew tired, bound their captive to a tree and prepared 
to shoot him. At the critical moment he flourished his compass in the 
air as though performing a ceremony, and the Indians forbore to shoot. 
His sagacity and courage had gained the day, but the more appalling 
danger of tortiu-e was yet to be avoided. The savages, however, were 



100 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

thoroughly superstitioas, and became afraid to proceed against him except 
111 the most formal manner. He was regarded by them as an inhabitant 
of another world whom it was dangerous to touch. 

Smith was firet taken to the town of Orapax, a few miles north- 
east of the site of Richmond. Here he found the Indians making 
great preparations to aHuck and destroy Jamestown. They invited him 
to join them and bec^.^xie their leader, but he refused, and then terrified 
them by describing the cannon and other destructive weapons of the 
English. He also managed to Avrite a letter to liis countrymen at the 
settlement, telling them of his captivity and their own peril, asking for 
certain articles, and requesting especially that those bearing the note should 
be thoroughly frightened before their return. This letter, which seemed 
to them to have such mysterious power of carrying intelligence to a dis- 
tance, was not lost on the Indians, who dreaded the WTiter more than ever. 
When the warriors bearing the epistle arrived at Jamestown and found 
everything precisely as Smith had said, their terror and amazement knew 
no bounds, and as soon a.s they returned to Orapax all thought of attack- 
ing the settlement was at once given up. 

The Indians now marched their captive about from village to vil- 
lage, tlie interest and excitement constantly increasing, until, near the 
fork of York River, they came to Pamunkey, the capital of Opechan- 
canough. Here Smith was turned over to the priests, who assembled in 
their Long House, or judgment-hall, and for three days together danced 
around him, sang and yelled after the manner of their superstition. The 
object was to determine by this wild ceremony what their prisoner's fate 
should be. The decision was against him, and he was condemned to death. 

It was necessary that the sanction of the Indian emperor should 
be given to the sentence, and Smith Avas now taken twenty-five miles 
do\\m the river to a town wiiere Powhatan lived in winter. The savage 
monarch was now sixty years of age, and, to use Smith's own language, 
looked every inch a king. He received the prisoner with all the rude 
formalities peculiar to his race. Going to the Long House of the village, 
the emperor, clad in a robe of raccoon skins, took his seat on a kind of 
throne prepared for the occasion. His two daughters sat right and left, 
while files of warriors and women of rank were ranged around the hall. 
The king solemnly reviewed the cai::;8 and confirmed the sentence of 
death. Two large stones were brought into the hall. Smith was dragged 
forth bound, and his head put into position to be crushed with a war- 
club. A stalwart painted savage was ordered out of the rank and stood 
ready for i':e bloody tragedy. The signal was given, tlie grim execu- 
tioner raised lis bludgeon, and another moment had decided the fate of 



VIRGINIA.— FIRST CHARTER. 101 

both the illustrious captive and his colony. But the peril svent by harm- 
less. Matoaka,* the eldest daughter of Powhatan, sprang from her seat 
and rushed between the Marrior's uplifted club and the prostrate prisoner. 
She clasped his head in her arms and held on with the resolution of despair 
luitil her father, yielding to her frantic appeals, ordered Smith to be 
unbound and lifted up. Again he was rescued from a terrible death 
There is no reason in the world for doubting the truth of this aifecting 
and romantic story, one of the most marvelous and touching in the his- 
tory of any nation. 

Powhatan, having determined to spare his captive's life, received 
him into flvvor. The prisoner should remain in the household of the mon- 
arch, making hatchets for the warriors and toys for the king's daughters. 
By degrees his Hberties were enlarged, and it was even agreed soon 
afterward that he should return to his own people at Jamestown. The 
conditions of his liberation were that he should send back to Orapax two 
cannons and a grindstone. Certain warriors were to accompany Smith to 
the settlement and carry the articles to Powhatan. There should then 
be peace aad friendship between the English and the Eed men. The 
journey was accordingly begun, the company camping at night in the 
woods, and Smith being in constant peril of his life from the uncertam 
disposition of the savages. But the colony was reached in safety, the lost 
captain and his twelve Indian guides being received with great gladness. 

Smith's first and chief care was to make a proper impression on 
the minds of the savages. He had improved the opportunities of his 
captivity by learning the language of Powhatan's people, and by making 
himself familiar with their peculiarities and weaknesses — an experience of 
vast importance to himself and the colony. He now ordered the two 
cannons which he had promised to give Powhatan to be brought out and 
loaded to the muzzle with stones. Then, under pretence of teaching the 
Indians gunnery, he had the pieces discharged among the tree-tops, which 
were bristling with icicles. There was a terrible crash, and the savages, 
cowering with fear and amazement, could not be induced to touch the 
dreadful engines. The barbarous delegation returned to their king with 
neither guns nor grindstones. 

As a matter of fact, the settlers were very little to be dreaded by 
anybody. Only thirty-eight of them were left alive, and these were frosts 
bitten and half starved. Their only competent leader had been absent 
for seven weeks in'the middle of one of the severest winters known in 

* Powhatan's tribe had a superstition that no one whose real name was unknown could 
be injured. They therefore told the English falsely that Matoaka's name was Poca- 
hontas. 



102 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

modern times. The old fears and discontents of the colonists bad revived ; 
and when Smith returned to the settlement, he found all hands preparing 
to escape in the pinnace as soon as the ice should break in the river. 
With much persuasion and a few wholesome threats he induced the 
majority to abandon this jiroject, but the factious spirits of the colony, 
burning with resentment against him and his influence, made a couspii» 
aey to kill him, and he knew not what hour migiit be his last. 

In the midst of these dark days Captain Ne^\'])ort arrived from 
England. He brought a full store of supplies and one hundred and 
twenty emigrants. Great was the joy throughout the little plantation ; 
only the president was at heart as much grieved as gladdened, for he saw 
in the character of the new comers no promise of anything but vexation 
and disaster. Here were thirty-four gentlemen at the head of the list 
to begin with ; then came gold-hunters, jewelers, engravei-s, adventurers, ' 
strollers and vagabonds, many of whom had more business in jail than 
at Jamestown. To add to Smith's chagrin, this comj)any of worthless 
creatures had been sent out contrary to his previous protest and injunc- 
tion. He had urged Newport to bring over only a few industrious 
mechanics and laborers; but the love of gold among the members of the 
London Company had prevailed over common sense to send to Virginia 
another crowd of profligates. 

The kind of industry which Smith had encouraged in the colony 
was now laughed at. As soon as the weather would permit, the new- 
comers and as many of tlie old settlei-s as had learned nothing from the 
past year's experience began to stroll about the country digging for gold. 
In a bank of sand at the mouth of a small tributary of the James some 
glittering particles were found, and the whole settlement was ablaze with 
excitement. Martin and Newport, both members of the council, were 
carried away with the common fanaticism. The former already in imagi- 
nation saw himself loaded with wealth and honored with a peerage. The 
latter, having filled one of his ships with the supposed gold-dust, sent it 
to England, and then sailed up James River to find the Pacific Ocean ! 
F< lurteen weeks of the precious springtime, that ought to have been given 
to ploughing and planting, were consumed in this stupid nonsense. Even 
the Indians ridiculed the madness of men who fir imaginary grains of 
gold were wasting their chances for a crop of corn. 

In this general folly Smith was quite forgotten ; but fireseeing that 
the evil must soon work its own cure, he kept his patience, and in t!"e 
mean time busied himself with one of his most brilliant and successful 
enterprises ; this was no less than the exjiloration of Chesapeake Bay and 
its tributaries. Accompanied by Dr. Russell and thirteen other comrades 



VIRGINIA.— FIRST CHARTER. 



103 



who had remained faithful to him, he left Jamestown on the 2d day of 
June. He had nothing but an open barge of three tons' burden, but in 
this he steered boldly out by way of Hampton Roads and Cape Henry 
as far as Smith's Island. Returning thence around the peninsula which 
ends with Cape Charles, the survey of the eastern shore of the bay was 
begun, and continued northward as far as the river Wicomico, in Mary- 
land. From this point the 
expedition crossed over to the 
mouth of the Patuxent, and 
thence coasted northward along 
the western side to the Pataps- 
co. Here some members of 
the company became discon- 
tented, and insisted on return- 
ing to the colony. Smith gave 
a, reluctant consent, but in steer- 
ing southward had tlic good 
fortune to enter the moutJi of 
the Potomac. The crew were 
so much jjleased with the pros- 
pect that they agreed to explore 
the great river before returning 
homeward. Accordingly, the 
barge was steered up stream as 
far as the falls above George- 
town. The country' was much 
admired ; and when the explor- 
ers were tired of adventure, 
they dropped down the river 
to the bay, and turning south- 
ward, reached Jamestown on 
the 21st of July. 

After a rest of three days a second voyage was begun. This time 
the expedition reached the head of the bay, and sailed up the Susquehanna 
River until the volume of water would float the barge no farther. Here 
an acquaintance was made with a race of Indians of gigantic stature and 
fiercer disposition than was known among the natives of Virginia. On 
the return voyage Smith passed down the bay, exploring every sound and 
inlet of any note, as far as the mouth of the Rappahannoc ; this stream 
he ascended to the head of navigation, and then, returning by way of the 
York and Chesapeake Rivers, reached Jamestown on the 7th of Septem- 




Jamestown and Vicinity. 



Smith's First Voyage in the Chesapeake -- 
Smith's Second Voyage in the Chesapeake - 



104 HISTORY OF THE VMTED STATES. 

ber. He liad been absent a little more than three months, had explored 
the winding coast of the great bay for fully three thousand miles, had 
encountered hostile savages by hundreds and thousands, had been driven 
hither and thither by storms, once wrecked, once stung by a poisonous 
fish and brought so near to death that his comrades digged his grave: 
now he was come back to the colony with a Map of the Chesapeake 
which he sent by Newport to England, and M'liich is still preserved. Oul^ 
one man had been lost on the expedition. Richard Fetherstone had died, 
and ^vas buried on the Rappahannoc. 

Within three days after Smith's return to Jamestown he was form- 
ally elected president. Ho entered at once upon the duties of his office, 
correcting abuses, enforcing the laws and restoring order to the distracted 
colony. There was a marked change for the better ; gold-hunting be- 
came unpopular, and the rest of tiie year wa.s noted as a season of great 
prosperity. Late in the autumn Newport arrived with seventy additional 
immigrants, increasing the number to more than two hundred. The 
health was so good that only seven deaths occurred between September 
and May of the following year. Excellent discipline was maintained. 
Every well man was obliged to work six hours a day. New houses were 
built, new fields fenced in; and all through the winter the sound of axe 
and saw and hammer gave token of a prosperous and growing village. 
Such was the condition of affairs in the spring of 1009. 



CHAPTER X. 

VTRGTXIA.— THE SECOXD CHARTER. 

ON the 23d of May, 1609, King James, without consulting the wishes 
of his American colonists, revoked their constitution, and granted to 
the London Company a new charter, b}' the terms of which the govern- 
ment of Virginia was completely changed. The territory included under 
the new patent extended from Cape Fear to Sandy Hook, and westward 
to the Pacific Ocean. The members of the Superior Council were now 
to be chosen by the stockholdei"s of the company, vacancies were to be 
filled by the councilors, who were also empowered to elect a governor 
from their own number. 

The council was at once organized in accordance with tliis charter, 



VIRGIXIA.— SECOND CHARTER. 105 

and the excellent Lord De La Ware chosen governor for life. With him 
were joined in authority Sir Thomas Gates, lieutenant-general ; Sir George 
Somers, admiral ; Christopher Newport, vice-admiral ; Sir Thomas Dale, 
high mai-shal ; Sir Ferdinand ^^'ainman, master of horse ; and other dig- 
nitaries of similar sort. Attracted by the influence of these noblemen, a 
large company of more than five hundred emigrants was speedily col- 
lected, and early in June a fleet of nine vessels sailed for America. Lord 
Delaware did not himself accompany the expedition, but delegated his 
authority to three commissioners, Somei-s, Grates and Newport. About 
the middle of July the ships, then passing the West Indies, were over- 
taken and scattered by a storm. One small vessel was wrecked, and 
another, having on board the commissioners of Lord Delaware, M-as driven 
ashore on one of the Bermuda Islands, where the crew remained until 
April of the following year ; the other seven ships came safely to James- 
town. 

But who should now be governor ? Captain Smith was at first dis- 
posed to give up his office, but in a few days the affairs of the colony 
were plainly going to ruin, and he was urged by the old settlers and the 
better class of new-comers to continue in authority. Accordingly, declar- 
ing that his powers as president under the old constitution did not cease 
until some one should arrive from England properly commissioned to 
supersede him, he kept resolutely to the discharge of his duties, although 
in daily peril of his life. He arrested Ratcliffe* and Archer, put some 
of the most rebellious brawlers in prison, and then, in order to distract 
the attention of the rest, planned two new settlements, one, of a hun- 
dred and twenty men, under the command of Martin, to be established 
at Nansemond ; the other, of the same number, under Captain West, to 
form a colony at the falls of the James. Both companies behaved badly. 
In a few days after their departure troubles arose between West's men 
and the Indians. The president was sent for in order to settle the diffi- 
culty ; but finding his efforts unavailing, he returned to Jamestown. On 
his way down the river, while asleep in the boat, a bag of gunpowder 
lying near by exploded, burning and tearing his flesh so terribly that in 
hLs agony he leaped overboard. Being rescued from the river, he was 
carried to the fort, where he lay for some time racked with fever and tor- 
tured with his wounds. Finally, despairing of relief under the imperfect 
medical treatment which the colony afforded, he decided to return to 
England. He accordingly delegated his authorih- to Sir George Percy, 
a brother of the earl of Northumberland, and about the middle of Sep- 

* This man's real name was not Ratcliffe, but Sicklemore. He had been president of 
the colony in 1607, and was an accomplished thief as well as an impostor. 



106 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

tember, 1609, left the scene of his heroic toils and sufferings, never to 
return. 

There remained at Jamestown a colony of four hundred and ninety 
persons, well armed, well sheltered and well supplied. But such was the 
viciousuess and profligacy of the greater number, and such the iiLSubor- 
dination and want of proper leadership, after Smith's departure, that by 
the beginning of winter the settlement wa.s face to face with starvation. 
The Indians became hostile and hovered around the plantations, strag- 
glers were mtercepted and murdered, houses were fired at every opportu- 
nity, disease returned to add to the desolation, and cold and hunger 
complett'd the terrors of a winter which was long remembered with a 
shudder and called The Starving Time. By the last of March there 
were only sixty persons alive, and these, if help had not come speedily, 
could hardly have lived a fortnight. 

Meanwhile, Sir Thomas Gates and his companions, who had been 
shipwrecked in the Bermudas, had constructed out of the materials of 
their old ship, with such additional timber as they could cut from the for- 
est, two small vessels, and set sail for Virginia. They came in full expec- 
tation of a joyful greeting from a happy colony. What, therefore, was 
their disappointment and grief when a few wan, half-starved wretches 
crawled out of their cabins to beg for bread ! Whatever stores the com- 
missioners had brought with them were distributed to the famishing 
settlers, and Grates assumed control of the government. 

But the colonists had now fully determined to abandon fof ever a 
place which promised them nothing but disaster and death. In vain did 
the comniissionere remonstrate; they were almost driven by the clamors 
around them to yield to the common will. An agreement was made to 
sail for Newfoundland ; there the remnant of the Virginia colony should 
be distributed among the fishermen until such time as some friendly ship 
might carry them back to England. 

On the 8th of June Jamestown was abandoned. The disheartened 
settlers, now grown resentful, were anxious before leaving to burn the 
town, but Grates defeated this design, and was himself the last man to go 
on board. Four pinnaces lay at their moorings in the river ; embark- 
ing in these, the colonists dropped down with the tide, and it seemed as 
though the enterprise of Raleigh and Gosnold liad ended in failure and 
humiliation. 

But Lord Delaware was already on his way to America. Before 
the escaping settlei-s had passed out of the mouth of the river, the ships 
of the noble governor came in sight. Here were additional immigrants, 
plentiful supplies and promise of better things to come. Would the 



VIRGINIA.— SECOND CHARTER. 107 

colonists return ? The majority gave a reluctant consent, and before night- 
fall the tires were again kindled on the hearthstones of the deserted village. 
The next day was given to religious services ; the governor caused his com- 
mission to be rend, and entered upon the discharge of his duties. The 
amiability and virtue of his life, no less than the mildness and decision of 
his administration, endeared him to all and inspired the colony with hope. 
Autumn came, and Lord Delaware fell sick. Against his own will, 
and to the great regret of the colony, he was compelled to return to Eng- 
land. Having reluctantly delegated his authority to Percy — the same 
who had been the deputy of Captain kSniith — the good Delaware set sail 
for his own country. It was au event of great discouragement ; but for- 
tunately, before a knowledge of the governor's departure reached England, 
the Superior Council had despatched a new shipload of stores and another 
company of emigrants, under command of Sir Thomas Dale. The vessel 
arrived at Jamestown on the 10th of May, and Percy was superseded by 
the captain, who bore a commission from the council. Dale had been a 
military officer in the ware of the Netherlands, and he now adopted a 
system of martial law as the basis of his administration. He was, how- 
ever, a man so tolerant and just that very little complaint was made on 
account of his arbitrary method of governing. 

One of Dale's first acts was to write to the council in England, 
requesting that body to send out immediately as large a number of colon- 
ists as possible, with an abundance of supplies. For once the council acted 
promptly ; and in the latter part of August, Sir Thomas Gates arrived with 
a fleet of six ships, having on board three hundred immigrants and a large 
quantity of stores. There was great thanksgiving in the colony, a fresh 
enthusiasm was enkindled, and contentment came with a sense of security. 

Thas far the property of the settlers at Jamestown had been held 
in common. The colonists had worked together, and in time of harvest 
deposited their products in storehouses which were under the control of 
the governor and council. Now the right of holding private property 
was recognized. Governor Gates had the lands divided so that each set- 
tler should have three acres of his own; every family might cultivate a 
garden and plant an orchard, the fruits of which no one but the owner 
was allowed to gather. The benefits of this system of labor were at once 
apparent. The laborers, as soon as each was permitted to claim the 
rewards of his own toil, became cheerful and industrious. There were 
now seven hundred persons in the colony ; new plantations were laid out 
on every side, and new settlements were formed on both banks of the 
river and at considerable distances from Jamestown. The promise of au 
American State, so long deferred, seemed at last to be realized. 



108 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XI. 

VIRGINIA.— THE THIRD CHARTER. 

EARLY in the year 1612 the London Company obtained from the 
king a third patent, by the terms of whieli the character of the gov- 
ernment was entirely changed. The Superior Council was abolished and 
the powers of that body transferred to the stockholders, who were author- 
ized to hold juiblic meetings, to elect their own officers, to discuss and 
decide all questions of law and right, and to govern the colony on their 
own responsibility. The cause of this change was the unprofitableness 
of the colony a.s a financial enterprise, and the consequent dissatisfaction 
of the company with the management of the council. The new patent, 
although not so intended by the king, was a great step toward a demo- 
cratic form of government in Virginia. 

2. The year 1613 was marked by two imjiortant events, both of them 
resulting from the lawless behavior of Captain Samuel Argall. While 
absent on an expedition up the Potomac River he learned that Pocahon- 
tas, who had had some difficulty with her flvther's tribe, was residing in 
that neighborhood. Procuring the help of a treacherous Indian family, 
the English captain enticed the unsuspecting girl on board his vessel and 
carried her ca])tive to Jamestown. The authorities of the colony, instead 
of punishing Argall for this atrocity, aggravated the outrage by demand- 
ing that Powhatan should pay a heav}' ransom for his daughter's libera- 
tion. The old king indignantly refused, and ordered his tribes to prepare 
for war. Meanwhile, Pocahontas, who seems not to have been greatly 
grieved on account of her captivity, wa.s converted to the Christian faith 
and became by baptism a member of the Episcopal Church. She was 
led to this course of action chiefiy by the instruction and persuasion of 
John Rolfe, a worthy young man of the colony, who after the baptism 
of the princess sought her in marriage. Powhatan and his chief men 
gave their consent, and the nuptials were duly celebrated in the spring 
of the following year. By this means war was averted, and a bond of 
union established between the Indians and the whites. 

3. Two years later Rolfe and his wife went to England, where they 
were received in the highest circles of society. Captain Smith gave them 
a letter of introduction to Queen Aime, and many other flattering atten- 



VIRGIN I A.~THIRD CHARTER. 109 

tions were bestowed on the modest daughter of the Western wildei'ness. 
In the following year, Rolfe made preparations to return to America ; but 
before embarking, Pocahontas fell sick and died. There was left of tliis 
marriage a son, wlio afterward came to Jamestown and was a man of some 
importance in the affairs of the colony. To him several influential families 
of Virginians still trace tlieir origiu. John Randolph of Roanoke was a 
grandson of the sixth generation from Pocahontas. 

When Captain Argall returned from his expedition up the Potomac, 
he was sent witli an armed vessel to the coast of Maine. The avowed 
object of the voyage was to protect the English fishermen who frequented 
the waters between the Bay of Fundy and Cape Cod, but the real pur- 
pose was to destroy the colonies of France, if any should be found within 
the limits of the territory claimed by England. Arriving at his destina- 
tion, Argall soon found opportunity for the display of hLs violence and 
rapacity. The French authorities of Acadia were at this time building 
a village on Mount Desert Island, near the mouth of the Penobscot. This 
settlement was the first object of Argall's vengeance. The place wa.s cap- 
tured, pillaged and burned ; part of the inhabitants were put on board a 
vassel bound for France, and the rest were carried to the Chesapeake. The 
French colony at the mouth of the St. Croix River next attracted the 
attention of the English captain, who cannonaded the fort and destroyed 
every building in the settlement. Passing thence across the bay to 
Port Royal, Argall burned the deserted hamlet which Poutrincourt and 
his companions had built there eight years before. On his way back to 
Virginia he made a descent on the Dutch traders of Manhattan Island, 
destroyed many of their huts, and compelled the settlers to acknowledge 
the sovereignty of England. The result of these outrageous proceedings 
was to confine the French settlements in America to the banks of the St. 
Lawrence, and to leave a clear coast for the English flag from Nova Scotia 
to Florida. 

In the month of March, 1614, Sir Thomas Gates returned to Eng- 
land, leaving the government in the hands of Dale, whose administration 
lasted for two years. During this time the laws of the colony were 
much improved, and, more important still, the colonial industry took 
an entirely difi"erent form. Hitherto the labor of the settlers had been 
directed to the planting of vineyards and to the manufacture of potash, 
soap, glass and tar. The managers of the London Company had at last 
learned that these articles could be produced more cheaply in Europe 
than in America. They had also discovered that there were certain 
products peculiar to the New World which might be raised and exported 
with great profit. Chief among such native products was the plant called 



110 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

tobacco, the use of which had already become fiishionable in Spain, Eng- 
land and France. This, then, became the leading staple of the colony, 
and was even used for money. So entirely did the settlers give them- 
selves to the cultivation of the famous weed that the very streets of 
Jamestown were ploughed up and planted with it. 

It was a great disaster to the people of the colony when Argall was 
chosen deputj'-governor. He was a man who had one virtue, courage • 
and in all other respects was thoroughly bad. The election occurred in 
1617, and through the influence of an unscrupulous faction composed of 
Argall's friends he wa.s not only selected as Lord Delaware's deputy in 
America, Ijut was also made an admiral of the English navv. His 
administration was characterized by fraud, oppression and violence. 
Neither property nor life was secure against his tyraimy and greed. By 
and by, the news of his proceedings reached England ; emigration ceased 
at once, and the colony became a rejiroach, until Lord Delaware restored 
confidence by embarking in person for Virginia. But the worthy noble-^ 
man died on the voyage, and Argall continued his exactions and cruelty. 
In the spring of 1619, he was at last displaced through the influence 
of Sir Ed\vyn Sandys, and the excellent Sir George Yeardley appointed 
to succeed him. 

Martial law was now abolished. The act which required each 
settler to give a part of his labor for the common benefit was also 
repealed, and thus the people were freed from a kind of colonial servi- 
tude. Another action was taken of still greater importance. Governor 
Yeardley, in accordance with instructions received from the company, 
divided the plantations along James River into eleven districts, called 
boroughs, and issued a proclamation to the citizens of each borough to 
elect two of their own number to take part in the government of the 
colony. The elections were duly held, and on the 30th of July, 1619, 
the delegates came together at Jamestown. Here was organized the 
Virginia House of Burgesses, a colonial legislature, the first popular 
assembly held in the New World. 

The Burgesses had many privileges, but very little power. They 
might discuss the affairs of the colony, but could not control them ; pass 
laws, but could not enforce them ; declare their rights, but could not 
secure them. Though the governor and council should both concur in 
the resolutions of the assembly, no law was binding until ratified by the 
company in England. Only one great benefit was gained — the freedom 
of debate. Wherever that is recognized, liberty must soon follow. 

The year 1619 was also marked by the introduction of negro slavery 
into Virginia. The servants of the people of Jamestown had hitherto 




I 



VIRGINIA.— THIRD CHARTER. Ill 

been persons of English or German descent, and their term of service 
had varied from a few months to many years. No perpetual servitude 
had thu8 far been recognized, nor is it likely that the English colonists 
would of themselves have instituted the system of slave labor. In the 
month of August a Dutc^h man-of-war sailed up the river to the planta- 
tions, and offered by auction twenty Africans. They were purchased by 
the wealthier cliiss of planters, and made slaves for life. It was, however, 
nearly a half century from this time before the system of negro slavery 
became well established in the English colonies. 

Twelve years had now passed since the founding of Jamestown. 
Eighty thousand pounds sterling had been spent by the company in the 
attempted development of the new State. As a result there were only 
six hundred men in the colony, and these for the most part were rovers 
who intended to return to England. Sir Thomas Smith, the treasurer, 
had managed matters badly. Very few families had emigrated, and 
society in Virginia was coarse and vicious. In this condition of affairs 
Smith was superseded by Sir Edwyn Sandys, a man of great prudence and 
integrity. A reformation of abuses was at once begun and carried out. 
By his wisdom and liberality the new treasurer succeeded before the end 
of the summer of 1620 in collecting and sending to America a company 
of twelve hundred and sixty-one persons. Another measure of still 
greater importance was equally successful. By the influence of Sandys 
and his friends, ninety young women of good breeding and modest man- 
ners were induced to emigrate to Jamestown. In the following spring sixty 
others of similar good character came over, and received a hearty welcome. 

The statement that the early Virginians bought their wives is 
absurd. All that was done was this : when Sandys sent the first company 
of women to America, he charged the colonists with the expense of the 
voyage — a measure made necessary by the fact that the company was 
almost bankrupt. An assessment was made according to the number 
who were brought over, and the rate fixed at a hundred and twenty 
pounds of tobacco for each passenger — a sum which the settlers cheerfully 
paid. The many marriages that followed were celebrated in the asual 
way, and nothing further was thought of the transaction. When the sec- 
ond shipload came, the cost of trans])ortation was reported at a hundred and 
fifty pounds for each passenger, which was also paid without complaint. 

In July of 1621 the London Company, which had now almost 
run its course, gave to Virginia a code of \\Titten laws and frame of 
government modeled after the English constitution. The terms of the 
instrunent were few and easily understood. The governor of the colony 
was as l/therto to be appointed by the company, a council to be chosen 



112 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

by tlie same body, and a house of burgesses, two members from each 
district, to be elected by the people. In making laws the councilors and 
burgesses sat together. ^\'hen a new law was proposed, it was debated, 
and if passed received the governor's signature, then was transmitted to 
England and ratified or rejected by the company. The constitution also 
acknowledged the riglit of petition and of trial by jury, but the most 
remarkable and liberal concession was that which gave the burgesses the 
power of vetoing any objectionable acts of the company. 

Governor Yeardley's administration ended in October of 1621. 
At that time Sir Francis Wyatt arrived, commissioned as governor and 
bearing the new constitution of Virginia. The colony was found in a 
very flourishing conditicin. The settlements extended for a hundred and 
forty miles along both banks of James River and far into the interior, 
especially northward toward the Potomac. There remained but one 
cause of foreboding and alarm. The Indians had seen in all this growth 
and prosperity the doom of their own race, and had determined to make 
one desj)erate effort to destroy their foes betbre it should be too late. To 
do this in open \\ ar was impossible ; necessity and the savage impulse work- 
ing together suggested treachery as the only means likely to accomplish 
the result. Circumstances favored the villainous undertaking. Pocahon- 
tas was dead. The peaceable and faith-keeping Powhatan had likewise 
passed away. The ambitioas and crafty Opechancanougli, who succeeded 
to his brother's authority in 1618, had ever since been plotting the destruc- 
tion of the English colony, and the time had come for the bloody tragedy. 

The savages carefully concealed their murderous purpose. Until 
the very day of the massacre they continued on terms of friendship with 
the English. They came unmolested into the settlements, ate with their 
victims, borrowed boats and guns, made purchases, and gave not the 
slightest token of hostility. The attack was planned for the 22d of 
March, at mid-day. At the fatal hour the work of butchery began. 
Every hamlet in Virginia was attacked by a band of yelling barbarians. 
No age, sex or condition awakened an emotion of ]>itv. IVIcn, women 
and children were indiscriminately slaughtered, until three huudi-ed and 
forty -seven had perished under the knives and hatchets of the savages. 

But Indian treachery was thwarted by Indian faithfulness. What 
was the chagrin and rage of the warriors to find that Jamestown and the 
other leading settlements had been warned at the last moment, and were 
prepared for the onset ? A converted Red man, wishing to save an Eng- 
lishman who had been his friend, went to him on the night before the 
massacre and revealed the plot. The alarm was spread among the settle- 
ments, and thus the greater part of the colony escaped destruction. But 



VIRGINIA.— THIRD CHARTER. 113 

the outer plantations were entirely destroyed. The people crowded to- 
gether on the larger farms about Jamestown, until of the eighty settlements 
there were only eight remaining. Still, there were sixteen hundred I'eso- 
lute men in the colony ; and although gloom and despondency prevailed 
for a Avhile, the courage of the settlers soon revived, and sorrow gave 
place to a desire for vengeance. 

It was now the turn of the Indians to suffer. Parties of English 
soldiers scoured the country in every direction, destroying wigwams, 
burning villages and killing every savage t-iat fell in their way, until the 
tribes of Opechancanough were driven into the wilderness. The colon- 
ists, regaining their confidence and zeal, returned to their deserted farms, 
and the next year brought such additions that the census showed a popu- 
lation of two thousand five hundred. 

Meanwhile, difficulties arose between the corporation and the king. 
Most of the members of the London Company belonged to the patriot 
party in England, and the freedom with which they were in the habit of 
discussing political and governmental matters was very distasteful to the 
monarch. A meeting of the stockholders, now a numeroas body, was 
held once every three months, and the debates took a wider and still 
wider range. The liberal character of the Virginia constitution was 
offensive to King James, who determined by some means to obtain con- 
trol of the London Company, or else to suppress it altogether. A com- 
mittee was accordingly appointed to look into the affairs of the cor- 
poration and to make a report on its management. The commissioners 
performed their duty, and reported that the company, in addition to being 
a hot-bed of political agitation, was unsound in every part, that the treas- 
ury was bankrupt, and especially that the government of Virginia was 
had and would continue so until a radical change should be made in the 
constitution of the new State. 

Legal proceedings were now instituted by the ministers to ascer- 
tain whether the company's charter had not been forfeited. The question 
came before thejudges, who had no difficulty in deciding that the violated 
patent was null and void. In accordance with this decision, the charter 
of the corporation was canceled by the king, and in June of 1624 the 
London Company ceased to exist. But its work had been well done ; a 
torch of liberty had been lighted on the banks of the James which all 
the gloomy tyranny of after times could not extinguish. The Virgin- 
ians were not slow to remember and to claim ever afterward the precious 
rights which were guaranteed in the constitution of 1621. And the 
other colonies would be satisfied with nothing less than the chartered 
privileges which were recognized in the laws of the Old Dominion. 



114 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XII. 

VIRGINIA.— THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT. 

A ROYAL governmeut was now estaljlislied in Virginia. To the 
colonists themselves the change of authorities was scarcely percepti- 
ble. The new administration consisted of a governor and twelve coun- 
cilors ai^pointcd liy the crown. The General Assembly of the colony 
was left undisturbed, and all the rights and privileges of the colonists 
remained as before. The king's hostility had been directed against the 
London Company, and not against the State of Virginia ; now that the 
former was destroyed the latter was left unmolested. Governor Wyatt 
was continued in office; and in making up the new council the king 
wisely took pains to select the known friends of the colony rather than 
certain untried partisans of his own court. The Virginians found in the 
cJiange of goverinnent as much cause of gratitude as of grief. 

King James of England died in 1625. His son, Charles I., a young, 
inexperienced and stubborn jjrince, succeeded to the throne. The new 
king paitl but little attention to the aifairs of his American colony, until 
the commerce in tobacco attracted his notice. Seeing in this product a 
source of revenue for the crown, he attempted to gain a monopoly of the 
trade, but the colonial authorities outwitted him and defeated the project 
It is worthy of special note that while conferring with the colony on thi'^ 
subject the king recognized the Virginia assembly as a rightfully consti- 
tuted power. The reply which was finally returned to the king's i)roposal 
was signed not only by the governor and council, but by thirty-one of the 
burgesses. 

In 1626 Governor Wyatt retired from office, and Yeardley, the old 
friend and benefactor of the colonists, was reappointed. The young 
State was never more prosperous than under this administration, which 
was terminated by the governor's death, in November of 1627. During 
the preceding summer a thousand new immigrants had come to swell the 
population of the growing province. 

The council of Virginia had a right, in case of an emergency, to 
elect a governor. Such an emergency was now present, and Francis 
West was chosen by the councilors ; but as soon as the death of Yeardley- 



VIRGINIA.— THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT. 115 

was known in England, King Charles commissioned John Harvey to 
assume the government. He arrived in the autmnn of 1629, and from 
this time until 1635, the colony was distracted with the presence of a 
most unpopular chief magistrate. He seems to have been disliked on 
general principles, but the greatest source of dissatisfaction was his par- 
tiality to certain speculators and land monopolists who at this time in- 
fested Virginia, to the annoyance and injury of the poorer jjeople. There 
were many old land grants covering districts of territory which Mere now 
occupied by actual settlers, and between the holders of the lands and the 
holders of the titles violent altercations arose. In these disputes the 
governor became a partisan of the speculators against the people, until 
the outraged assembly of 1635 passed a resolution that Sir John Harvey 
be thrust out of office, and Captain West be appointed in his place "until 
the king's pleasure may be known in this matter." A majority of the 
councilors sided with the burgesses, and Harvey was obliged to go to 
England to stand his trial. 

King Charles treated the whole afEiir with contempt. The com- 
missioners appointed by the council of Virginia to conduct Harvey's im- 
peachment were refused a hearing, and he was restored to the governor- 
ship of the unwilling colony. He continued in power until the year 
1639, when he wa^s superseded by Wyatt, who ruled until the spring of 
1642. 

And now came the English Revolution. The exactions and tyranny 
of Charles at last drove his subjects into open rebellion. In January of 
1642, the king and his friends left London, and repairing to Nottingham, 
collected an army of I'oyalists. The cajyital and southern part of the 
country remained in the power of Parliament. The High Church party 
and the adherents of monarchy took sides with the king, while the re- 
publicans and dissenters made up the opposing forces. The country was 
plunged into the horrors of civil war. After a few years of conflict tiie 
royal army was routed and dispersed ; the king escaped to Scotland, and 
the leading royalists fled to foreign lands. On the demand of Parliament 
Charles was given up and brought to trial. The cause was heard, a sen- 
tence of death was passed, and on the 30th of January, 1649, the unhappy 
monarch was beheaded. 

Monarchy was now abolished. Oliver Cromwell, the general of 
the Parliamentai-y army, was made Lord Protector of the Commonwealth 
of England. By him the destinies of the nation were controlled until 
his death, in 1658, when he was succeeded by his son Richard. But the 
latter, lacking his father's abilities and courage, became alarmed at the 
dangers that gathered around him, and resigned. For a few months the 



116 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

couutrj' was in anarchy, until General Monk, who commanded the Eng- 
lish army of the North, came down from Scotland and declared a restora- 
tion of the monarchy. The exiled son of Charles I. was called home 
and proclaimed king, the people acquiesced, Parliament sanctioned the 
measure, and on the 18th of May, 1660, Charles II. was placed on the 
throne of England. 

These were times full of trouble. Virginia shared in some degree 
the distractions of the mother-country, yet the evil done to the new State 
by the conflict in England was less than might have been expected. In 
the first year of the civil war Sir William Berkeley became governor of 
the colony, and, with the exception of a brief vLsit to England in 1646, 
remained in office for ten years. His administration, notwithstanding the 
commotions abroad, was noted as a time of rapid growth and develop- 
ment. The laws were greatly improved and made conformable to the 
English statutes. The old controversies about tlie lands were satisfacto- 
rily settled. Cruel jjunishments were abolished and the taxes equalized. 
The general assembly was regularly convened to bear its part in the gov- 
ernment, and Virginia was in all essential particulars a free as well as a 
prosperous State. So rapid was the progress that in 1646 there were 
twenty thousand people in the colony. 

But there were also drawbacks to the prosperity of Virginia. Re- 
ligious intolerance came with its baleful shadow to disturb the State. Tiie 
faith of the Episcopal Church was established by law, and dissenting was 
declared a crime. The Puritans were held in contempt by the people, 
who charged them with l)eing the destroyers of the peace of England. 
In March of 1643 a statute was enacted by the assembly declaring that 
no person who disbelieved the doctrines of the English Church should be 
allowed to teach publicly or privately, or to preach the gospel, within the 
limits of Virginia. The few Puritans in the colony were excluded from 
their places of trust, and some were even driven from their homes. Gov- 
ernor Berkeley, himself a zealous churchman, was a leader in these per- 
secutions, by which all friendly relations with New England were broken 
off for many years. 

A worse calamity' befell in a second war M'ith the Indians. Early 
in 1644, the natives, having forgotten their former punishment, and 
believing that in the confusion of the civil war there still remained a hope 
of destroying the English, planned a general massacre. On the 18th of 
April, at a time when the authorities were somewhat off their guard, the 
savages fell upon the frontier settlements, and before assistance could be 
brought murdered three hundred people. Alarmed at their own atrocity, 
the warriors then fled, but were followed by the English forces and 



VIRGINIA.— THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT. 117 

driven into tiie woods and swamps. Tlie aged Opechanoanough was cap- 
tured, and died a prisoner. The tribes were chastised witliout mercy, and 
were soon glad to pureha.se peace by the cession of large tracts of land. 

The Virginians adhered with great firmness to the cause of Charles 
I. in his war with Parliament, and after his death proclaimed the exiled 
Ciiarles II. as rightful sovereign of the country. Cromwell and the 
Parliament were much exasperated at this course of conduct, and mea- 
sures were at once devised to bring the colony to submission. An ordi- 
nance was passed laying heavy restrictions on the commerce of such 
Englisli colonies as refused to acknowledge the supremacy of Parliament. 
All foreign ships, especially those of Holland, were forbidden to enter 
the colonial harbors. In 1651 the noted statute called the Navigation 
Act was passed, and the trade of the colonies was still more seriously 
distressed. In this new law it was enacted that the foreign commerce 
of Virginia, now grown into importance, should be carried on wholly in 
English vessels, and directed exclasively to English ports. 

The Virginians held out, and Cromwell determined to employ 
force. A war-vessel called the Guinea was sent into the Chesapeake to 
compel submission, but in the last extreme the Protector showed him- 
self to be just as well as wrathful. There were commissioners on board 
the frigate authorized to make an offer of peace, and this was gladly 
accepted. It was seen that the cause of the Stuarts was hopeless. The 
people of Virginia, although refusing to yield to threats and violence, 
cheerfully entered into negotiations with Cromwell's delegates, and ended 
by acknowledging the supreme authority of Parliament. The terms of 
the settlement were very flivorable to popular liberty; the commercial 
restrictions of the two previous years were removed, and the trade of the 
colony was made as free as that of England. No taxes might be levied 
or duties collected except such as were imposed by the general assembly 
of the State. The freedom of an Englishman was guaranteed to every 
citizen, and under the control of her own laws Virginia again grew pros- 
perous. 

No further difficulty arose during the continuance of the Common- 
wealth. The Protector was busied with the affairs of Europe, and had 
neither time nor disposition to interfere in the affairs of a remote colony. 
The Virginians were thus left free to conduct their government as they 
would. Even the important matter of choosing a governor was sub- 
mitted to an election in the House of Burgesses ; when so great a power 
had been once exercised, it was not likely to be relinquished without a 
struggle. Three governors were chosen in this way, and what was at 
first only a privilege soon became a right. Special acts of the assembly 



118 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

declared that such a right existed, and that it should be transmitted to 
posterity. 

In 1660, just at tlie time of the resignation of Richard Cromwell, 
Samuel Matthews, the last of the three elected governors, died. The 
burgesses were immediately convened, and an ordinance was passed de- 
claring that the supreme authority of Virginia was resident in the colony, 
and would continue there until a delegate with proper credentials should 
arrive from the British government. Having made this declaration, the 
hoase elected as governor Sir William Berkeley, who by accepting the 
office acknowledged the right of the burgesses to choose. The question 
of recognizing Charles II. as king was debated at the same session, but 
prudence suggested that the colonial authorities would better await the 
natural course of events. For the present it was decided to remaiit faith- 
ful to Parliament. Most of the people, no doubt, desired the restoration, 
but policy forbade any open expressions of such a preference. It would 
be time enough when monarchy was actually restored. 

In May of 1660 Charles II. became king of England. As soon 
as this event was known in Virginia, Governor Berkeley, forgetting the 
source of his own authority, and in defiance of all consistency, issued writs 
in the name of the king for the election of a new assembly. The friends 
of royalty were delighted with the prospect. The adherents of the Com- 
monwealth were thrust out of office, and the favorites of the king estab- 
lished in their places. Great benefits were expected from the change, and 
the whole colony was alive with excitement and zeal. But the disaj)- 
pointment of the people wa.s more bitter than their hopes had been extrav- 
agant. The Virginians soon found that they had exchanged a republican 
tyrant with good principles for a monarchial tyrant with bad ones. King 
Charles II. was the worst monarch of modern times, and the people of 
Virginia had in him and his government a special cause of grief The 
commercial system of the Commonwealth, so far from being abolished, 
was re-enacted in a more hateful form than ever. The new statute pro- 
vided that all the colonial commerce, whether exports or imports, should 
be carried on in English ships, the trade between the colonies was bur- 
dened with a heavy tax for the benefit of the government, and tobacco, 
the staple of Virginia, could be sold nowhere but in England. This 
odious measure gave to English merchantmen a monopoly of the carry- 
ing trade of the colonies, and by destroying competition among the buy- 
ers of tobacco robbed the Virginians to that extent of their leading 
product. Remonstrance was tried in vain. The cold and selfish monarch 
only sneered at the complaints of his American subjects, and the commer- 
cial ordinances were rigorously enforced. 



VIRGINIA.— THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT. 119 

Charles II. seemed to regard the British empire as personal property 
to be used for the benefit of hinLself and his courtiers. lu order to reward 
the worthless profligates who thronged his court, he began to grant to them 
large tracts of laud in Virginia. What did it matter that these lauds had 
been redeemed from the wilderness and were covered with orchards and 
gardens ? It was no uncommon thing for an American planter to find that 
his farm, which had been cultivated for a quarter of a century, was given 
away to some dissolute flatterer of the royal household. Great distress 
was occasioned by these iniquitous grants, until finally, in 1673, the king 
■set a limit to his own recklessness by giving away the whole State. Lord 
Culpepper and the earl of Arlington, two ignoble noblemen, received 
under the great seal a deed by which was granted to them for thirty- 
■one years all the dominion of land and water called Virginia. 

Unfortunately, the colonial legislation of these times became as 
selfish and narrow-minded as the policy of the king was mean. An 
aristocratic party which had arisen in the colony obtained control of the 
House of Burgesses, and the new laws rivaled those of England in illiber- 
ality. Episcopalianism was again established as the State religion. A 
proscriptive ordinance was passed against the Baptists, and the peace-lov- 
ing Quakers were fined, persecuted and imprisoned. Burdensome taxes 
were laid on personal property and polls ; the holders of large estates were 
exempt and the poorer people afilicted. The salaries of the ofiicers were 
secured by a permanent duty on tobacco, and, worst of all, the biennial 
election of burgesses was abolished, so that the membei's of the existing 
assembly continued indefinitely in power. For a while Berkeley and his 
council out^lid the tyranny of England. 

And then came open resistance. The people were worn out with 
the governor's exactions, and availed themselves of the first pretext to 
assert their rights by force of arms. A war witii tlie Susquehanna In- 
dians furnisiied the occasion for an insurrection. The tribes about the 
head of Chesapeake Bay and along the Susquehamia had been attacked by 
the Senecas and driven from their homes. They, in turn, fell upon the 
English settlers of Maryland, and the banks of the Potomac became the 
scene of a border war. Virginia and Maryland made common cause 
agaiust the savages. John Washington, great-grandfather of the first 
president of the United States, led a company of militia into the enemy's 
country, and compelled the Susquehannas to sue for peace. Six of their 
chieftains went into Virginia as ambassadors, and, to the lasting dishonor 
of the colony, were foully nun-dered. This atrocity maddened the savages, 
and a devastating warfare raged along the whole frontier. 

Governor Berkeley, not without some show of justice, sided with 



120 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the Indians. But the colonists remembered only the many acts of 
treachery and bloodshed of which the red men had before been guilty, 
and were determined to have revenge. In this division of sentiment 
among the people, the assembly and the aristocratic party took sides with 
tlie governor and favored a peace; wliile the popular party, disliking 
Berkeley and hating the Indians, resolved to overthrow him and destroy 
them at one blow. A leader M'as found in that remarkable man, Nathaniel 
Bacon. Young, brave, eloquent, patriotic, full of enthusiasm and energy, 
he became the soul and life of the popular party. His own farm in the 
county of Henrico had been pillaged and his tenants nuu-dered by the 
savages. Exasjoerated by these injuries, he was the more easily urged by 
the public voice to accept the dangerous office of leading an insurrection. 

Five hundred men rushed to arms and demanded to be led against 
the Indians. Alarm, excitement and passion prevailed throughout the 
colony. The patriot forces were organized ; and without permission of a 
government which they had ceased to regard, the march was begun into 
the enemy's country. Berkeley and the aristocratic faction were enraged 
at this proceeding, and proclaimed Bacon a traitor. A levy of troops was 
made for the purpose of dispersing the rebellious militia; but scarcely had 
Berkeley and his forces left Jamestown when another pojnilar uprising in 
the lower counties compelled him to return. Affairs were in an uproar. 
Bacon came home victorious. The old assembly was unceremoniously 
broken up, and a new one elected on the basis of universal suffrage. 
Bacon wa.s chosen a member for Henrico, and soon after elected com- 
mander-in-chiei of tiie Virginia army. Tiie governor refused to sign his 
commission, and Bacon appealed to the pcojile ; the militia again flew to 
arms, and Berkeley was compelled to yield. Not only was the com- 
mission signed, but a paper drawn up by the burgesses in commendation 
of Bacon's loyalty, zeal and patriotism received the executive signature 
and was transmitted to Parliament. 

Peace returned to the colony. The power of the savages was com- 
pletely broken. A military force was stationed on the frontier, and a 
sense of security returned to all the settlements. But Berkeley M'as petu- 
lant, proud and vengeful ; and it was only a question of time when the 
struggle would be renewed. Seizing the first opportunity, the governor 
left Jamestown and repaired to the county of Gloucester, on the north 
side of York River. Here he summoned a convention of loyalists, who, 
contrary to his expectations and wishes, advised moderation and com- 
promise ; but the hot-headed old cavalier would yield no jot of his pre- 
rogative to what he was pleased to call a rabble, and Bacon was again 
proclaimed a traitor. 




i\"KK\nI! ];kRKKI.BY AMj TUi; l.\?;L-U(i KNTt 



VIRGINIA.— THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT. 121 

It was eviileut that there must be figliting. Berkeley and his 
forces left Gloucester, crossed the Chesapeake Bay, and took station on 
the eastern shore, in the county of Accomac. Here his troops were 
organized ; the crews of some English ships were joined to his command, 
and the fleet set sail for Jamestown. The place was taken without much 
resistance ; but when Bacon with a few companies of patriots drew near, 
the loyal forces deserted and went over to his standard. The governor 
with his adherents was again obliged to fly, and the eajiital remained in 
possession of the people's party. The assembly was about to assume con- 
trol of the government without the governor, whose flight to Accomac 
had been declared an abdication, when a rumor arose that an English fleet 
was approaching for the subjugation of the colonies. The patriot leaders 
held a council, and it was determined that Jamestown should l)e burned. 
Accordingly, in the dusk of the evening the torch was applied, and the 
only town in Virginia laid in ashas. The leading men set the example 
by throwing firebrands into their own houses ; others caught the spirit of 
saci'ifice ; the flames shot up through the shadows of night ; and Governor 
Berkeley and his followers, on board a fleet twenty miles down the river, 
had tolerably fair warning that the capital of Virginia could not be used 
for the purposes of despotism. 

In this juncture of affairs Bacon fell sick and died. It was an 
event full of grief and disaster. The patriot party, discouraged by the 
loss of the heroic chieftain, was easily dispersed. A few feeble efforts 
were made to revive the cause of the people, but the animating spirit 
which had controlled and directed until now was gone. The royalists 
found an able leader in Robert Beverly, and the authority of the governor 
was rapidly restored throughout the province. The cause of the people 
and the leader of the people had died together. 

Berkeley's vindictive passions were now let loose upon the defeated 
insurgents. Fines and confiscations became the order of the day. The 
governor seemed determined to drown the memory of his own wrongs in 
the woes of his subjects. Twenty-two of the leading patriots were seized 
and hanged with scarcely time to bid their friends flirewell. Tims died 
Thomas Hansford, the first American who gave his life for freedom. 
Thus perished Ednnmd Cheesman, Thomas Wilford and the noble Wil- 
liam Drummoud, martyrs to liberty. Nor is it certain when the vengeful 
tyrant would have stayed his hand, had not the assembly met and passed 
an edict that no more blood should be spilt for past offences. One of the 
burgesses from the county of Northampton said in the debate that if the 
governor were let alone he would hang half the country. When Clharles 
II. heard of Berkeley's ferocity, he exclaimed, "The old fool has taken 



122 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

away more lives in that naked country tlian I for the murder of my 
father" ; and the saying was true. 

Tlie liistory of tliis insurrection was for a long time reciiwl by 
Bacon's enemies. Until the present century no one appeared to rescue 
the leader's name from obloquy. In the light of after times his cluracter 
will shine with a jjcculiar lustre. His motives were as exalted as liis life 
was pure, and his virtues as noted as his abilities were great. His ambi- 
tion was for the public welfare, and his 2)assions were only excited against 
the enemies of his country. 

The consequences of the rebellion were very disastrous. Berkeley 
and the aristocratic Jiarty had now a good excuse for suppressing all liberal 
sentiments and tendencies. The printing-press was interdicted. Educa- 
tion wa.s discouraged or forbidden. To speak or to wTite anything against 
the administration or in defence of the late insurrection was made a crime 
to be punished by fine or whipping. If the offence should be three times 
repeated, it was declared to be treason punishable with death. The former 
t}'raunical methods of taxation were revived, and Virginia was left at the 
mercy of arbitrary rulers. 

In 1675, Lord Culpepper, to whom with Arlington the province 
had been granted two years previously, obtained the appointment of 
governor for life. The right of the king was thus by his own act relin- 
quished, and Virginia became a proprietary government. The new execu- 
tive arrived in 1680 and a.ssumed the duties of his office. His whole 
administration was characterized by avarice and dishonesty. Regarding 
Virginia as his pei-sonal estate, he treated the Virginians as his tenants 
and skives. Ever)- species of extortion was resorted to, until the nmtter- 
ings of rebellion were again heard throughout the impoverished colony. 
In 1683, Arlington surrendered his claim to Culpepper, who thus became 
sole proprietor as well as governor ; but before he could proceed to further 
mischief, his official career was cut short by tlie act of the king. Charles 
II., repenting of his f)wn rashness, found in Culpepper's vices and frauds 
a sufficient excuse to remove him from office and to revoke his patent, 
n 1684, Virginia again became a royal province, under the government 
of Lord Howard, of Effingham, Avho was succeeded by Francis Nich- 
olson, formerly governor of New York. His administration was sig- 
nalized by the founding of William and Mary College, so named 
in honor of the new sovereigns of England. This, next to Harvard, 
was the first institution of liberal learning planted in America. Here 
the boy Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, shall be 
educated! From these halls, in the famous summer of 1776, shall be 
sent forth young James Monroe, future President of the United States! 



1600 


11. Gustavus Adolplius the CHreat. 


89. Pe 


Grotius. 




Galileo. IS. The Thirty Years' War begins. 




Kepler. 48. Peace of Westphalia. 




24-42. Kichelieu. 43. LoVlis XIV. 


85. Revocatic 




87. Habea 


Shakespeare. Milton. 


Iiocke. 




88. Sec 


Bacon. 49. Cromwell. 


88. Will 




of Mary, 94. 


'■ tZi:t } 25. Char.es I. 42. The Revolution. ««; T^,;?.-*",!!-- 35. j,^. 



7. 



9. Second Charter granted. 42. Berkeley's administration. 

12. The Third Charter. 44. Indian massacre. 76. Bacon's Eebellio; 

19. House of Burgesses established. 77. Virginia becom 

VIEGINIA colonized by the London 51. First Navigation Act. 84. Royal go 

Company at Jamestown. 



24. Dissolution of the 50 
London Company. 

19. Introduction of Slavery. 
John Smith) governor. 



83. Seth Sot 
NOETH OAROLIHA settled by the Engl 
63. Grant made to Lord Clarendon 
8.5. Sir Jo 
65. Sir John Yeamans, gover 
77. Culpepper's re 



34. 



MARYLAND settled by the Catho- 91. 3 

lies under Lord Baltimore. 75. Charles Calvei 

39. Representative government established. 92. 



: 38. Governor Kief. 64. Taken by the English. 91. S 

14. : NEW YORK settled by the Dutch. Berkeley and Carteret. 91 

: 47. Stuyvesant. 70. Lovelace. 

56. New York City founded. 74. Edm 
: 26. Minuits, governor. : 

38. Wilmington settled by the Swedes. 82.:DELAWi 



23 



NEW JERSEY settled by the Dutch. 



81. First Genen 



29. NEW HAMPSHIRE settled. 
30. Boston founded. 



79. : New Hampshire 

: as a distinct colons 



30. : MAINE settled. 



76. King Philip's de 

20. : MASSACHUSETTS settled by the Puritans at Plymouth. 84. Massa 

: 30. Winthrop, governor. 90. Fii 

: 38. Harvard College founded. 90. Ki 

39. First printing-press set up at Cambridge. 

: 92. W 

: e: 

: 36. : RHODE ISLAND settled by Roger Williams. 

: : 3'J. Newport founded. S7. Rh ode 



: 37. Pequod War. 89. The 

30. : OONNECTIOUT granted to the earl of Warwick. 
: 35. Saybrook founded. 
:33. Hartford founded. 62. New charter granted. 



^ru^n-^ 



70. 



SOUTH OAROLD 

Locke's Constitution a 
Sij. Arrival 




82. 



PENNf 

the Q, 

92, 



^ 



1700 



he Great. 

barles XII. 

^ar of the Spanish Saccession. 

leibuitz. 

13. Peace of Utrecht. 

iict of Nantes. 

IS- 15. Loiiis XV. 

evolutioi:. 

Qtl Mary, and after the death 

am III. 



!. Anne. 14. George I. 27. George II. 



62. Catharine II. 

40. Frederick the Great. 

40. War of the Austrian Succession terminated 

by 48. Peace of Aii-la-Chapelle. 89. French 

Revolntiou. 
93. ReigB 

Voltaire. 74. Louis XVI. ofTer- 

Tor. 
Dr. Johnson. Burke. 

65. The Rockingham Ministry. 

Newton. Chatham. Pi"- 

55. War between France and England. * **• 
65. The Stamp Act. 
60. George III. 



'roprietary government. 

ent re-established. 



32. Birth of Washington. 65. The Virginia: Resolutions. 



ovemor. 

9. Arrival of the German immigrants. 



rchdale, governor. 

11. The Corse War. 

1. 29. Final separation of the Carolinas. 

nd becomes a royal government. 

b1 Copley. 

iter, governor. 

;cher. 1. Cornbnry. 

ellamont. 

indros. 



44. Negro plot. 58. Fall of Louisburg. 
32. Cosby, governor. 65. Declaration: of Rights. 

54. French and Indian : War. 
65. First Colonial Congress assembles at New York. 



jparated from New York. 



'nion of East and West Jersey. 

mblv. 38. 



Dr. Benjamin : Franltlin. 

Royal government established. : 



Fnited with Massachusetts. 

20. Introduction of tea. 



id death. 

4. First newspaper. 
ts loses her charter, 
.e of paper money 
'iiliam's War. 
2. Queen Anne's War. 
aft 10. First post-ofice. 
ent. 



41, : New ITanipsliire finally sepa- : 
: rateil from Mass. 67. The tea tax. 



61. Writs of Assist:ance. 

73. The Boston " Tea Party." 



44. King George's War, 

45, 



75. 



Lexington. 



Louisburg taken. 74. Boston Port Bill. 

68. General Gage arrives in Boston. 

59. llMcweJec 75. bJ! -Bi«(AYr i7)7/. 
^~*"'^taken. 70. r^""^ Tumult in Boston. 



d joined to New York. 



g of the charter. 

. Yale College founded. 



ttled by the English. 

!. ^ 2. Expedition against St. Augustine. 

'T:i_;uen"ts. 29. Roral government established. 



ANIA settled by 
rs under Penn. 
ses bis commission. 



ipn 76. Independence. 

55. iLSl Braddock's defeat. 

1^^ 74. Second Congress assem- 

• hies at Philadelphia. 



33. 



GEORGIA settled by the English : 

under Oglethorpe. : 

52. Royal government established. 



MASSACHUSETTS.— SETTLEMENT. 123 

After Nicholson's administration, Sir Edmund Andros, recently ex- 
pelled by the people of Massachusetts, assumed for a while the gov- 
ernment of Virginia. The affairs of the colony during the next forty 
or fifty years are not of sufficient interest and importance to require 
extended notice in an abridgment of American history. At the out- 
break of the French and Indian War, Virginia will show to the world 
that the labors of Smith, and Gosnold, and Bacon have not been in 
vain. 



CHAPTEK XIII. 

MASS A CHUSETTS.— SETTLEMENT. 

THE spring of 1621 brought a ray of hope to the distressed Pilgrims 
of New Plymouth. Never was the returning sun more welcome. 
The fatal winter had swept off one-half of the number. The son of Uie 
benevolent Carver was among the first victims of the terrible climate. 
The governor himself sickened and died, and the broken-hearted wife 
found rest in the same grave with her husband. But now, with the ap- 
proach of warm weather, the destroying pestilence was stayed, and the 
spirits of the survivors revived with the season. Out of the snows of 
winter, the desolations of disease, and the terrors of death the faith of the 
Puritan had come forth triumphant. 

For a while the colonists were apprehensive of the Indians. In 
February, Miles Standish was sent out with his soldiers to gather in- 
formation of the numbers and disposition of the natives. The army of 
New England consisted of six men besides the general. Deserted wig- 
wams were found here and there ; the smoke of camp-fires arose in the 
distance ; savages were occasionally seen in the forest. These fled, how- 
ever, at the approach of the English, and Standish returned to Plymouth. 

A month later the colonists were astonished by the sudden appear- 
ance in their midst of a Wampanoag Indian named Samoset. He ran 
into the village, offered his hand in token of friendship, and bade the 
strangers welcome. He gave an account of the numbers and strength of 
the neighboring tribes, and recited the story of a gi'eat plague by which^ 
a few years before, the country had been swept of its inhabitants. The 
present feebleness and desolate condition of the natives had resulted from 
the fatal malady. Another Indian, by the name of Squanto, who had 
been carried away by Hunt in 1614, and had learned to speak English, 
came also to Plymouth, and confirmed what Samoset had said. 



124 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



By the influence of these two natives friendly relations were at once 
established with the Wampanoags. Massasoit, the great sachem of the 
nation, was invited to visit the settlement, and came attended by a few 
of his warriors. The Pilgrims received him with as much parade and 
ceremony as the colony could provide ; Captain Standish ordered out his 
soldiers, and Squanto acted as interpreter. Then and there was ratifier^. 
the first treaty made in New England. The terms were few and simple. 
There should be peace and friendship between the whites and the red 
men. No injury should be done by either party to the other. All 
oifenders should be given up to be punished. If the English engaged in 




THE TREATY BETWEEN GOVERNOR VARVER AND MASSASOIT. 

war, Massasoit should help them ; if the Wampanoags were attacked un- 
justly, the English should give aid against the common enemy. Mark 
that word xmjustly : it contains the essence of Puritanism. 

The treaty thus made and ratified remained inviolate for fifty years. 
Other chiefs followed the example of the great sachem and entered into 
friendly relations with the colony. Nine of the leading tribes acknow- 
ledged the sovereignty of the English king. One chieftain threatened 
hostilities, but Standish's army obliged him to beg for mercy. Canonicus, 
king of the Narragansetts, sent to William Bradford, who had been chosen 
governor after the death of Carver, a bundle of arrows wrapped in the 
skiu of a rattlesnake ; but the undaunted governor stuifed the skin with 



MASS A CHUSETTS.— SETTLEMENT. \ 25 

powder and balls and sent it back to the chief, who did not dare to accept 
the dangerous challenge. The hostile emblem was borne about from tribe 
to tribe, until finally it was retui-ned to Plymouth. 

The summer of 1621 was unfruitful, and the Pilgrims were brought 
to the point of starvation. To make their condition still more grievous, 
ft new company of immigrants, without provisions or stores, arrived, and 
were cpiartered on the colonists during the fall and winter. For six 
months together the settlers were obliged to subsist on half allowance. 
At one time only a few grains of parched corn remained to be distributed, 
and at another there was absolute destitution. In tliLs state of affairs some 
English fishing-vessels came to Plymouth and charged the starving colo- 
nists two prices for food enough to keep them alive. 

The intruding immigrants just mentioned had been sent to America 
by Thomas Weston, of London, one of the projectors of the colony. They 
remained with the people of Plymouth until the summer of 1622, then 
removed to the south side of Boston Harbor and began a new settlement 
called Weymouth. Instead of working w.th their might to provide 
against starvation, they wasted the fall in idleness, and attempted to keep 
up their stock of provisions by defrauding the Indians. Thus provoked 
to hostilit)% the natives formed a plan to destroy the colony ; but Massa- 
soit, faithful to his jiledges, went to Plymouth and revealed the plot, 
Standish marched to Weymouth at the head of his regiment, now in- 
creased to eight men, attacked the hostile tribe, killed several warriors 
and carried home the chief's head on a pole. The tender-hearted John 
Robinson \vrote from Leyden : " I would that you had converted some 
of them before you killed any." 

In the following spring most of the Weymouth settlers abandoned 
the place and returned to England. The summer of 1623 brought a 
plentiful harvest to the people of the older colony, and there was no 
longer any danger of starvation. The natives, preferring the chase, be- 
came dependent on the settlement for corn, and furnished in exchange an 
abundance of ganae. The main body of Pilgrims still tarried at Leyden. 
Eobiuson made unwearied efforts to bring his people to America, but the 
adventurers of London who had managed the enterprise would provide 
no further means either of money or transportation ; and now, at the end 
of the fourth year, there were only a hundred and eighty persons in New 
England. The managers had expected profitable returns, and were dis- 
appointed. They had expended thirty -four thousand dollars; there 
was neither profit nor the hope of any. Under this discouragement the 
proprietors made a proposition to sell out their claims to the colonists. 
The offer was accepted; and in November of 1627 eight of the leading 



126 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

men of Plymouth purchased from tlie Londoners their entire interest for 
the sum of nine thousand dollars. 

Before this transfer of right was made the colony had been much, 
vexed by the efibrts of the managers to thrust on them a minister of the 
Established Chiu'ch. Was it not to avoid this very thing that they had 
come to the wilds of the New World ? Should the tyranny of the prelates 
follow them even across the sea and into the wilderness? There was dis- 
sension and strife for a while ; the English managers withheld support ; 
oppression was resorted to; the stores intended for the colonists were 
sold to them at three prices ; and they were obliged to borrow money at 
sixty per cent. But no exactions could break the spirit of the Pilgrims; 
and the conflict ended with the purchase of whatever rights the London 
proprietors had in the colony. 

The year 1624 was marked by the founding of a settlement at 
Cape Ann. John White, a Puritan minister of Dorchester, England, 
collected a small company of emigrants and sent them to America. The 
colony was established, but after two years of discouragement the cape 
was abandoned as a jilace unsuitable, and the company moved farther 
south to Naumkeag, afterward called Salem. Here a settlement was 
begun, and in 1G28 was made permanent by the arrival of a second colony, 
in charge of John Endicott, who was chosen governor. In March of the 
same year the colonists obtained a patent from the Council of Plymouth ; 
and in 1629 Charles I. issued a charter by which the proprietors were 
incorporated under the name of The Governor and Company of 
Massachusetts Bay in New England. In July two hundred ad- 
ditional immigrants arrived, half of whom settled at Plymouth, while the 
other half removed to a peninsula on the north side of Boston Harbor 
and laid the foundation of Charlcstown. 

At the first it had been decided that the charter of the colony 
should be left in England, and that the governor should reside there also. 
After further discussion, this decision was reversed, and in September it 
was decreed that the whole government should be transferred to America, 
and that the charter, as a pledge of liberty, should be entrusted to the 
colonists themselves. As soon as this liberal action was made known 
emigration began on an extensive scale. In the year 1630 about three 
hundred of the best Puritan families in the kingdom came to New Eng- 
land. Not adventurers, not vagabonds, were these brave people, but vir- 
tuous, well-educated, courageous men and women who for conscience' 
sake left comfortable Jiomes with no expectation of returning. It was not 
the least of their good fortune to choose a noble leader. 

If ever a man was worthy to be held in perpetual remembrance. 



I 



MASS A CHUSETTS.— SETTLEMENT. 



127 



>^nJ5.,^ 



that man was John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts. Born a royalist, 
he cherished the prmciples of republicanism. Himself an Episcopalian, 
he chose affliction 
with the Puritans. 
Surrounded with 
affluence and com- 
fort, he left all to 
share the destiny 
of the persecuted 
Pilgrims. Calm, 
prudent and jjcace- 
able, he joined the 
zeal of an entluisi- 
ast witli the sub- 
lime faitli of 
martyr. 

A part ol 
the new immi- 
grants settled at 
Salem ; others at 
Cambridge and 
Watertown, on 
Charles River; 
while others, going 
farther south, 
founded Roxbury and Dorchester. The governor, with a few of the 
leading families, resided for a while at Charlestown, but soon crossed 
the liarbor to tlie peninsula of Shawmut and laid the foundation of Bos- 
ton, wliich became henceforth the cajjital of the colony and the metropolis 
of New England. With the approach of wiutei' sickness came, and the 
distress was very great. Many of the new-comers were refined and ten- 
der people who could not endure the bitter blasts of Massachusetts Bay. 
Coarse fare and scanty provisions added to the griefs of disease. Sleet 
and snow drifted through the cracks of the thin board huts where en- 
feebled men and delicate women moaned out their lives. Before mid- 
winter two hundred had perished. A few others, heartsick and despair- 
ing, returned to England ; but there was heard neither murmur nor 
repining. Governor Winthrop wrote to his wife : " I like so well to be 
here that I do not repent my coming." 

At a session of the general court of the colony, held in 1631, a law 
was passed restricting the right of sufirage. It was enacted that none but 




JOHN WINTHKOP. 



128 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

members of tlie church should Ije permitted to vote at the colonial elec- 
tions. The choice of governor, deputj'-governor and assistant councilors 
was thus placed in the hands of a small minority. Nearly three-fourths 
of the people were excluded from exercising the rights of freemen. Taxes 
were levied for the support of the gospel ; oaths of obedience to the magis- 
trates were required ; attendance on public woi-ship was enforced by law ; 
uone but church-members were eligible to offices of trust. It is strange 
indeed that the very men ^^'ho had so recently, through perils by sea and 
land, escaped with only their lives to find religious freedom in another 
continent, should have begun their career with intolerance and proscrij)- 
tion. The only excuse that can be found for the gross inconsistency and 
injustice of such legislation is that bigotry was the vice of the age rather 
than of the Puritans. 

One manly voice was lifted up against this odious statute. It was 
the voice of young Roger Wilham^!, minister of Salem. To this man 
belongs the shining honor of being first in America or in Europe to pro- 
claim the full gospel of religious toleration. He declared to his people 
that the conscience of man may in no wise be bound by the authority of 
the magistrate ; that civil government has only to do with civil matters, 
such as the collection of taxes, the restraint and j^unishment of crime, 
and the protection of all men in the enjoyment of equal rights. For 
these noble utterances he was obliged to quit the ministry of the church 
at Salem and retire to Plymouth. Finally, in 1634, he MTote a paper in 
which the declaration was made that grants of land, though given by the 
king of England, wei'e invalid until the natives Mere justly recompensed. 
This was equivalent to saying that the colonial charter itself was void, and 
that the people were really living upon the lands (>f the Indians. Great 
excitement was occasioned by the publication, and Williams consented 
that for the sake of public peace the paper should be burned. But he 
continued to teach his doctrines, saying that compulsory attendance at re- 
ligious worship, as well as taxation for the sujiport of the ministry, was 
contrary to the teachings of the gospel. ^Vhen arraigned for these bad 
doctrines, he crowned his offences by telling the court that a test of 
church-membership in a voter or a public officer was as ridiculous as the 
selection of a doctor of physic or the pilot of a ship on account of his skill 
in theology. 

These assertions raised such a storm in court that Williams Avas 
condemned for heresy and banished from the colony. In the dead of 
winter he left home and became an exile in the desolate forest. For four- 
teen M-eeks he M-andered on through the snow, sleeping at night on the 
ground or in a hollow tree, living on parched corn, acorns and roots. He 



MASSACHUSETTS.— SETTLEMENT. 



129 



carried with him one precious treasure — a private letter from Governor 
Winthrop, giving him words of cheer and encouragement. Nor did the 
Indians fail to show their gratitude to the man who had so nobly de- 
fended their rights. In the country of the Wampanoags he was kindly 
entertained. Massasoit invited him to his cabin at Pokanoket, and 




r.ui;t,U WILLIAMS' KECEPTION BY THE INDIANS. 

Canonicus, king of tiie Narragansetts, received him as a friend and 
brother. On the left bank of Blackstone River, near the head of Narra- 
gansett Bay, a resting-place was at last found ; the exile pitched his tent, 
and with the opening of spring planted a field and built the first house in 
the village of Seekonk. Soon the information came that he was still 
within the territory of Plymouth colony, and another removal became 
necessary. With five companions who had joined him in banishment, 
he embarked in a canoe, passed down the river and crossed to the west 
side of the bay. Here he Avas safe; his enemies could hunt him no 
farther. A tract of land was honorably purchased from Canonicus ; and 
in June of 1636, the illustrious founder of Rhode Island laid out the city 
of Providence. 

Meanwhile, his teachings were bearing fruit in Massachusetts. In 
1634 a representative form of government was established against the 
opposition of the clergy. On election-day the voters, now numbering 
between three and four hundred, were called together, and the learned 



130 HISTQRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Cotton preached powerfully and long against the pro}X)sed change. The 
assembly listened attentively, and then went on with the election. To 
make the reform complete, a ballot-box wiis substituted for tlie old 
method of public voting. The restriction on the right of suffrage was 
the only remaining bar to a perfect system of self-government in New 
England. 

During the next year three thousand new immigrants arrivetl. It 
was worth wiiile— so thought the people of England — to come to a country 
where the principles of freedom were spreading with such rapidity. The 
new-comers were under the leadcrehip of Hugh Peters and Sir Henry 
Vane ; tiie former the Puritan pastor of some English exiles at Rotter- 
dam, in Holland, and the latter a young nobleman who afterward played 
an important part in the history of Eugland. Such M'as his popularity 
with the people of Massachusetts, and such his zeal and piety, tiiat in less 
tlian a year after his arrival he was ciiosen governor of the colony. 

By this time the settlements around ISIassachusctts Bay were 
thickly clustered. Until new homes should be found there was no room 
for the immigrants who were constantly coming. To enlarge the frontier, 
to plunge into the wilderness and find new places of abode, became a 
necessity. One little company of twelve families, led by Simon Willard 
and Peter Bulkeley, marched through the woods until they came to some 
open meadows sixteen miles from Boston, and there laid the foundations 
of Concord. A little later in the same year, another colony of sixty per- 
sons left the older settlements and pressed their way westward as far as 
the Connecticut River. The march itself was a grievous hardship, but 
greater toils and sufferings were in store for the adventurous company. 
A dreadful winter overtook them in their new homes but half provided. 
Some died ; others, disiieartened, waded back through the dreary untrod- 
den snows and came half famished to Plymouth and Boston; but the 
rest, with true Puritan heroism, outbraved the winter and triumphed over 
the pangs of starvation. Spring brought a recompense for hardship : the 
heroic pion(>ers crept out of their miserable huts to become the foundere 
of Windsor, Hartford and Wethei-sfield, the oldest towns iu tlie Con- 
necticut valley. 

The banishment of Roger Williams, instead of bringing peace, 
brought strife and dissension to the people of Massachusetts. The minis- 
ters were stern and exacting. Every shade of popular belief was closely 
scrutinized ; the slightest departure from orthodox doctrines Avas met 
with a charge of heresy, and to be a heretic was to become an outcast. 
Still, the advocates of free opinion nndtiplied. The clergy, notwithstand- 
'ng their great influence among the people, felt insecure. Rf iigious de- 



I 



MASSACHUSETTS.— SETTLEMENT. 



131 




Jiarly Settlements 

NEW £KC!£,AKD, 

— and — 

Distribution of the 

Infliaii Tribes. 



00 3k»gtt"A Cn-Cin. 



MAP OF EARLY SETTLEMENTS IN NEW ENGLAND. 

bates became the order of the day. Every sermon had to pass the ordeal 
of review and criticism. 

Most prominent among those who were said to be "as bad as 
Roger Williams, or worse," was Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, a woman of 
genius who had come over in the ship with Sir Henry Vane. She de- 
sired the privilege of speaking at the weekly debates, and was refused. 
Women liad no business at these assemblies, said the eldei"S. Indignant 
at this, slie became the champion of her sex, and declared that the minis- 
ters who were defrauding women of the gospel were no better than Piiari- 
Bees. She called meetings of her friends, spolce much in pubhc, and 
pleaded with great fervor for the full freedom of conscience. The liberal 
doctrines of the exiled Williams v.'ere reaffirmed with more power and 
eloquence than ever. Many of the magistrates were converted to the new 
beliefs ; the governor himself espoused the cause of Mrs. Hutchinson ; 
and a majority of the people of Boston inclined to her opinions. 

For a while there was a reign of discord ; but as soon as Sit 
Henry's term of office expired a call was issued for a meeting of the 
synod of New England. The body convened in August of 1637; a^ 



132 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

decree was proposed ; Mrs. Hutchinson and her friends were declared 
unfit for tlie society of Christians, and banished from the territory of 
Massachusetts. With a large number of friends the exiles wended their 
way toward the liome of Roger Williams. Miantonomoh, a Narragansett 
chieftain, made them a gift of the beautiful island of Rhode Island; 
there, in the month of March, 1641, a little republic was established, in 
whose constitution freedom of conscience was guaranteed and persecution 
for opinion's sake forbidden. 

The year 1636 was an important epoch in the history of Massa- 
chasetts. The general court of the colony passed an act apj^ropriatiug 
between one and two thousand dollars to found and endow a college. 
The measure met with popular favor; the Puritans were an educated 
people, and were quick to appreciate the advantages of learning. New- 
town was selected as the site of the proposed school. Plymouth and 
Salem gave gifts to heljj the enterprise ; and from villages in the Con- 
necticut valley came contributions of corn and wampum. In 1638, John 
Harvard, a young minister of Cliarlestown, died, bequeathing liis library 
and nearly five thousand dollars to tlie school. To perpetuate the memory 
of the noble benefactor the new institution was named Harvaed Col- 
lege ; and in honor of the place where the leading men of Massachusetts 
had been educated, the name of Newi^own was changed to Cambridge. 
ThiLs early did the people of New England stamp their approval on the 
cause of education. In spite of sterile soil and desolate landscapes — 
in spite of destroying climate and wasting diseases — in spite even of 
superstition and bigotry — the people who educate will ever be great 
and free. 

The PRINTING-PRESS came also. In 1638, Stephen Daye, an 
English printer, arrived at Boston, bringing a font of tyjjes, and in the 
following year set up a press at Cambridge. The first American publica- 
tion was an almanac calculated for New England, and bearing date of 
1639. During the next year, Thomas Welde and John Eliot, two minis- 
ters of Roxbury, and Richard Mather, of Dorchester, translated the 
Hebrew Psalms into English verse, and published their rude work in 
a volume of tliree hundred pages — the first book printed on this side 
of the Atlantic. 

The rapid gro\vth of Massachusetts now became a source of alarm 
to the English government. Those liberal principles of religion and 
politics which were openly avowed and gloried in by the citizens of th" 
new commonwealth were hateful to Charles I. and his ministers. Th 
archbishop of Canterburj' was much offended. Something must be 
done to check the further growth of the Puritan colonies. The first 



MASSACHUSETTS.— THE UNION. 133 

measure which suggested itself was to stop emigration. For this purpose 
an edict was issued as early as 1634, but was of no effect. The officers 
of the government neglected to enfoi'ce the law. Four years later, more 
vigorous measures were adopted. A squadron of eight vessels, ready to 
.sail from London, was detained by the royal authority. Many of the 
most prominent Puritan families in England were on board of these 
ships. Historians of high rank have asserted — but without sufficient 
proof — that John Hampden and Oliver Cromwell were of the number 
who were turned back l)y the detention. At all events, it would have 
been the part of wisdom in King Charles to allow all Puritans to leave 
his realm as fast as possible. By detaining them in England he only 
made sure the Revolution, and by so much hastened his own downfall. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

MASSACHUSETTS.— THE UNION. 



nVTEW ENGLAND was fast becoming a nation. Wellnigh fifty towns 
J-'' and villages dotted the face of the country. Nearly a million of 
dollars had been spent in settling and developing the new State. Enter- 
prises of all kinds were rife. Manufactures, commerce and the arts were 
rapidly introduced. William Stephens, a shipbuilder who came- with 
Governor Winthrop to Boston, had already built and launched an Ameri- 
can vessel of four hundred tons burden. Before 1640, two hundred and 
ninety-eight emigrant ships had anchored in Massachusetts Bay. Twenty- 
one thousand two hundred people, escaping from English intolerance of 
Church or State, had found home and rest between Plymouth Rock and 
the Connecticut valley. It is not wonderful that the colonists began to 
cast about them for better political organization and more ample forms 
of government. 

Many circumstances impelled the colonies to union. First of all, 
there was the natural desire of men to have a regular and permanent 
government. England, torn and distracted with civil M'ar, could do 
nothing for or against her colonies ; they must take care of themselves. 
Here was the western frontier exposed to the hostilities of the Dutch 
towns on the Hudson ; Connecticut alone could not defend herself. 
Similar trouble was apprehended from the French on the north ; the 



134 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

English settlements on the Piseataqua were weak and defenceless. In- 
dian tribes capable of mustering a thousand warriors were likely at any 
hour to fall upon remote and helpless villages ; the jjrevalence of common 
interests and the necessities of common defence made a union of some sort 
indisjjcnsable. 

The first effort to consolidate the colonies was ineflectual. Two 
years later, in 1(339, the project was renewed, but without success. 
Again, in 1G43, a measure of union was brought forward and finally 
adojrted. By the terms of this compact, Massachusetts, Plymouth, Con- 
necticut and New Haven were joined in a loose confederacy, called The 
United Colonies op New England. The chief authority was con- 
ferred upon a general assembly, or congress, composed of two representa- 
tives from each colony. These delegates were chosen annually at an 
election wlicre all tlie freemen voted by ballot. There was no president 
other than the speaker of the assembly, and he had no executive powei"s. 
Each community retained, as before, its separate local existence ; and all 
subordinate questions of legislation were reserved to the respective colo- 
nies. Only matters of general interest — such as Indian affairs, the levy- 
ing of troojis, the raising of revenues, declarations of war and treaties of 
peace — were submitted to tlie assembly. 

Provision was made for the admission of other colonies into the 
unitm, but none were ever admitted. Tiie English settlement on the 
Piscataqua Mas rejecteil because of heterodoxy in religion. The Provi- 
dence Plantations were refused for similar reasons. Should Roger Wil- 
liams return to plague an a.ssembly where an apjjroved church-member- 
ship was the sole qualification for office? The little island of Rhode 
Island, witli its Jewish republic, also knocked for admission ; Anne 
Hutchinson's commonwealth was informed that Plvniouth colony had 
rightful jurisdiction there, and that heresy was a bar to all petitions. 

Until the year 1641 tlie people of Massachusetts had had no regular 
code of laws. At a meeting of the assembly in December of this year, 
Nathaniel Ward brought forward a -written instrument which, after ma- 
ture deliberation, was adopted as the constitution of the State. This 
fundamental statute was called the Body of Liberties, and was ever 
afterward esteemed as the great charter of colonial freedom. It may be 
doubted whether any other primitive constitution, either ancient or 
modern, contains more wisdom than this early code of jMassaehusetts. 

A further modification in the government was effected in 1644. 
Until this time the representatives of the people had sat and voted in the 
same hall with the governor and his assistant magistrates. It was now 
decreed that the two bodies should sit apart, each with its own officers 



MASSACHUSETTS.— THE UNION. 135 

and under its own management. By this measure the people's branch of 
the legislature was made independent and of equal authority with the 
governor's council. Thus step by step were the safeguards of liberty 
established and regular Ibrms of government secured. 

The people of Massachusetts were little grieved on account of the 
English Revolution. It was for them a vindication and a victory. The 
triumph of Parliament over King Charles was the triumph of Puritanism 
both in England and America. Massachusetts had no cause to fear so 
long as the House of Commons was crowded with her friends and patrons. 
But in the hour of victory the American Puritans showed themselves 
more magnanimous than those of the mother-country ; when Charles I., 
the enemy of all colonial liberties, was brought to the block, the people 
of New England, whose fiithers had been exiled by his father, lamented 
his tragic fate and preserved the memory of his virtues. 

During tlie supremacy of the Long Parliament several acts were 
passed which put in peril the interests of Massachusetts, but by a prudent 
and far-sighted policy all evil results were avoided. Powerful friends, 
especially Sir Henry Vane, stood up in Parliament and defended the 
colony against the intrigues of her enemies. Ambassadors, men of age 
and experience, went often to London to plead for colonial rights. Soon 
after the abolition of monarchy a statute was made which threatened for 
a while the complete subversion of the new State. Massachusetts was in- 
vited to surrender her charter, to receive a new instrvnnent instead, and 
to hold courts and issue writs in the name of Parliament. The measure 
seemed fair enough, but the jieople of Ne\v England were too cautious to 
stake their all on the fate of a Parliament whose power was already 
waning. The requisition was never complied with. Cromwell did not 
insist on the surrender ; no one else had jiower to enforce the act ; and 
Massachusetts retained her charter. 

The Protector was the constant friend of the American colonies. 
Even Virginia, though slighting his authority, found him just as well as 
severe. The people of New England were his special favorites. To them 
he was bound by every tie of political and religious sympathy. For more 
than ten years, when he might have been an oppressor, he continued the 
benefactor, of the English in America. During his administration the 
northern colonies were left in the full enjoyment of their coveted rights. 
In commerce, in the industry of private life, and especially in religion, 
the people of Massachusetts were as free as the people of England. 

In the year 1652, it was decreed by the general court at Boston 
that the jurisdiction of the province extended as far north as three miles 
above the most northerly waters of the river Merrimac. This declaration. 



136 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

which was iu strict accordance with the charter of the colony, was made 
for the purpose of annexing Maine to Massachusetts. By this measure 
the territory of the latter State was extended to Casco Bay. Settlements 
had been made on the Piscataqua as early as 1626, but had not flourished. 
Thirteen years later a royal charter was issued to Sir Ferdinand Gorges, 
a member of the Council of Plymouth, who became proprietor of the 
province. His cousin, Thomas Gorges, was made deputy-governor. A 
liigh-sounding constitution, big enough for an empire, was draAvn up, and 
the little village of Gorgeana, afterward York, became the capital of the 
kingdom. jNIeanwhile, in 1630, the Plymouth Council had granted to 
anotlier corjwration sixteen Imndrcd square miles of the territory around 
Casco Bay, and this claim had l)cen purchased by Rigby, a republican 
member of Parliament. Between his deputies and tiiose of Gorges violent 
disputes arose. Tiie villagers of Maine, sympathizing with neither party, 
and emulous of the growth and prosperity of the southern colonies, laid 
their grievances before the court at Boston, and the annexation of the 
province followed. 

In July of 1656, the Quakers began to arrive at Boston. The 
first who came were Ann Austin and Mary Fisher. The introduction of 
the plague would have occasioned less alarm. The two women were caught 
and searched for marks of witchcraft, their trunks were broken open, 
their books were burned by the hangman, and they themselves thrown 
into prison. After several weeks' confinement they were brought forth 
and banished from the colony. Before the end of the year eight others 
had been arrested and sent back to England. The delegates of the union 
were immediatelv convened, and a rigorous law was passed, excluding all 
Quakers from the country. Whipping, the loss of one 2ar and lianisji- 
ment were the penalties for the first offence; nftcr a second conviction the 
other ear sh.ould be cut off; and should the criminal again return, his 
tongue should be bored through with a red-hot iron. 

In 1657, Ann Burden, who had o.ime from London to preach 
against persecution, was seized and beateii with twenty stripes. Others 
came, were whipped and exiled. As the law became more cruel and 
prescriptive, fresh victims rushed forward to brave its terrors. The 
assembly of the four colonies again convened, and advised the authorities 
of Massachusettstoi>ronounce the penalty of death against the fanatical 
disturbers of the public peace. When the resolutions embodying this ad- 
vice A\'as put before the assembly, to his everlasting honor, the younger 
Winthrop, delegate from Connecticut, voted No ! Massachusetts ac- 
cepted the views of the greater number, and the death-penalty was passed 
bv a majority of one vote. 



MASSACHUSETTS.— THE UNION. 137 

In September of 1659, four persons were arrested and brought to 
trial under tliis law. The prisoners wore given the option of going into 
exile or of being hanged. Two of them (Mary Dyar and Nicholas Davis) 
chose banishment ; but the other two (Marmaduke Stephenson and Wil- 
liam Robinson) stood firm, denounced the wickedness of the court, and 
were sentenced to death. Mary Dyar, in whom the love of martyrdom 
had triumphed over fear, now returned, and was also condemned. On 
the 27th of October' the three were led forth to execution. The men 
were hanged without mercy; and the woman, after the rope had been 
adjusted to her neck, was rejjrieved only to bo banished. She was con- 
veyed beyond the limits of the colony, but immediately returned and was 
executed. William Leddra was next seized, tried and sentenced. As in 
the case of the othei-s, he was oifered 23erpetual exile instead of deatli. 
He refused, and was hanged. 

Before the trial of Leddra was concluded, Wenlock Christison, 
who had already been banislied, rushed into the court-room and began to 
upbraid tlie judges for shedding the blood of the innocent. When put on 
his second trial, he spoke boldly in his own defence; butthe jury brought 
in a verdict of guilty, and he was condemned to die. Others, eager for 
the honor of martyrdom, came forward in crowds, and the jails were filled 
witli voluutary prisoners. But before the day arrived for Christison's exe- 
cution, the public conscience was aroused; the law was repealed, the prison- 
doors were opened, and Christison, with twenty-seven companions, came 
forth free. Tiie bloody reign of proscrijition had ended, but not until four 
innocent enthusiasts had given their lives for liberty of conscience. 

But let a veil be drawn over this sorrowful event. The history of 
all times is full of scenes of violence and wrong. It could not be ex- 
pected that an American colony, founded by exiles, pursued with malice 
and beset with dangers, should be \vholly exempt from the sliame of evil 
deeds. Tiie Puritans establisiied a religious rather than a civil common- 
M-ealth ; whatever put the faith of the people in peril seemed to them 
more to be dreaded than pestilence or death. To ward off heresy, even 
by destroying the heretic, seemed only a natural self-defence. A nobler 
lesson has been learned in the light of better times. 

The English Revolution had now run its course. Cromwell was 
dead. The Commonwealth tottered and fell. Charles II. was restored to 
the throne of his ancestors. Tidings of the Restoration reached Boston 
on the 27th of July, 1660. In the same vessel that bore the news came 
Edward Whalley and William Goffe, two of the judges who had passed 
sentence of death on Charles I. It was now their turn to save their lives 
by flight. Governor Endicott received them with, courtesy ; the agents 



138 HISTOHV OF THE UNITED STATES. 

from the British government came in hot ])ursuit \\ith ordere to arrest 
them. For a while the fugitives, aided by the people of Boston, baffled 
the officers, and then escaped to New Haven. Here for many weeks 
they lay in concealment ; not even the Indians would accept the reward 
which was offered for their apprehension. At last the exiles reached the 
valley of the Connecticut and found refuge at the village of Hadley 
where they pa.ssed the remainder of their lives. It was in October of this 
same fatal year that Hugh Peters, the old friend of the colony, the father- 
in-law of the younger Winthrop, was hanged at London. The noble Sir 
Henry Vane was hunted down in Holland, surrendered to the English 
government, condemned and beheaded. 

Owing to the partiality of Cromwell, the restrictions on colonial 
commerce which bore so heavily on Virginia were scarcely felt by j\Iassa- 
chusetts. On the restoration of monarchy a severer policy \vas at once 
adopted. All vessels not bearing the English flag were forbidden to 
enter the liarliors of New England. A law of exportation was enacted 
by which all articles produced in the colonies and demanded in England 
should be shipjjed to England only. Such articles of American produc- 
tion as the English merchants did not desire might be sold in any of the 
ports of Europe. The law of importation was equally odioas ; such 
articles as were produced in England should not be manufactured in 
America, and should be bought from England only. Free trade between 
the colonies was forbidden ; and a duty of five j)er cent., levied for tli<j 
benefit of the English king, was put on both exports and imports. 
Human ingenuity could hardly have invented a set of measures better 
calculated to produce an Ajiekicax Revolution. 

In 1(304, war broke out between England and Holland. It became 
a part of the English military plans to reduce the Dutch settlements on 
the Hudson ; and for this 2)urp()se a fleet was sent to America. But there 
was another purpose also. Charles II. was anxious to obtain control of 
the New Elngland colonies, that he might govern them according to the 
j)rinciples of arbitrary power. The chief obstacle to this undertaking 
was the charter of MassachiLsetts — an instrument given under the great 
seal of England, and not easily revoked. To accomplish the same end by 
other means was now the object of the king ; and with this end in view 
four commissioners were appointed with instructions to go to America, to 
sit in judgment upon all matters of complaint that might arise in New 
England, to settle colonial disputes, and to take such other measures as 
might seem most likely to establish peace and good order in the country. 
The royal commissioners embarked in the British fleet, and in July ar 
rived at Boston. 



MASSACHUSETTS.—KIAG PHILIP'S WAP. 139 

They were not wanted at Boston. The people of Massachusetts 
knew very well that the establishment of this supreme judgeship in their 
midst was a flagrant violation of their chartered right of self-government. 
Before the commissioners landed tlie patent was put into the hands of a 
committee for safe keeping. A decree of the general court forbade the 
citizens to answer any summons issued by the royal judges. A powerful 
letter, full of loyalty and manly protests, was sent directly to tlie king. 
The conmiissioners became disgusted with the treatment which they re- 
ceived at the hands of the refractory colony, and repaired to Maine and 
IS^ew Hampshire. Here they were met with some marks of favor ; but 
their official acts were disregarded and soon forgotten. In lihode Island 
the judges were received with great respect, and their decisions accepted 
as the decisions of the king. Tlie towns of Connecticut were next 
visited ; but the people were cold and indifferent, and the connnissioners 
retired. JNIeanwhile, the English monarch, learning how his grand judges 
had been treated, sent a message of recall, and before the end of the year 
they gladly left the country. After a gallant fight, Massachusetts had 
preserved her liberties. I^eft in the peaceable enjoyment of her civil 
rights, she entered upon a new career of prosperity which, for a period 
of ten years, was marked with no calamity. 



CHAPTER XV. 

MASSACHUSETTS.— KING PHILIP'S WAR. 

MASSASOIT, the old sachem of the Wampanoags, died in 1 662. For 
forty-one years he had faithfully kept the treaty made by himself 
with the first settlers at Plymouth. His elder son, Alexander, now be- 
came chief of the nation, but died within the year ; and the chieftainship 
descended to the younger brother, Philip of Mount Hope. It was 
the fate of this brave and able man to lead his people in a final and hope- 
less struggle against the supremacy of the whites. Causes of war had 
existed for many years, and the time had come for the conflict. 

The unwary natives of New England had sold their lands. The 
English were the purchasers ; the chiefs had signed the deeds ; the price 
had been fairly paid. Year by year the territory of the tribes had nar- 
rowed ; the old men died, but the deeds remained and the lands could 
not be recovered. There were at this time in the country east of the 



140 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Hudson not more than twenty-five thousand Indians; the English had 
increased to fully twice that number. A new generation had arisen who 
could not understand the validity of the old titles. The young warriors 
sighed for the freedom of their fathers' hunting-grounds. They looked 
with ever-increasing jealousy on the growth of English villages and the 
spread of English farms. The ring of the foreigner's axe had scared the 
game out of the forest, and the foreigner's net had scooped the fishes from 
the red man's river. Of all their ancient domain, the Wampanoags had 
nothing left but the two narrow peninsulas of Bristol and Tiverton, on 
the eastern coast of Narragansett Bay. 

There were personal grievances also. While Alexander lived he 
had been arrested, tried by an English jury and imprisoned. He had 
caught his death-fever in a Boston jail. Another chieftain was appre- 
hended in a similar way ; and then the Indian witness who appeared at 
the trial was murdered for giving testimony. The perpetrators of this 
crime M'ere seized by the English, convicted and hanged. Perhaps King 
Philip, if left to himself, would have still sought peace. He was not a 
rash man, and clearly foresaw the inevitable issue of the struggle. He 
hesitated, and was affected with great grief when the news came that an 
Englishman had been killed. But the young men of the tribe were 
hirsting for bloody revenge, and could no longer be restrained. The 
women and children were hastily sent across the bay and put under the 

_ protection of Canonchet, king of the 
Narragansetts. On the 24th of June, 







I 



1675, the village of Swanzey was 
attacked ; eight Englishmen ^\•cre 
killed ; and the alarm of war sound- 
ed through the colonies. 

Within a week the militia of 
Plymouth, joined by volunteer com- 
panies from Boston, entered the 
enemy's country. A few Indians 
were overtaken and killed. The 
troops marched into the peninsula 
of Bristol, reached Mount Hope, 
and compelled Philip to fly for his 
life. With a baud of fugitives 
numbering five or six hundred, he 
escaped to Tiverton, on the eastern side of the bay. Here, a few days 
aftenvard, they were attacked ; but lying concealed in a swamp, they beat 
back their assailants with considerable loss. The place was then sur- 



FIRST SCENE OF KING PHILIP'S WAR. 



MASSACHUSETTS.— KING PHILIP'S WAR. 



141 



rounded and besieged for two Meeks; but Philip and his men, when 
brought to the point of starvation, managed to escape in the night, crossed 
the bay and fled to the country of the Nipmucks, in Central Massa- 
chusetts. Here the king and his warriors became the heralds of a general 
war. The slumbering hatred of the savages was easily kindled into open 
hostility. For a whole year the scattered settlements of the frontier be- 
?ame a scene of burning, massacre and desolation. 

After Philip's flight from Tiverton, the English forces' marched 
into the country of the Narragansetts. Here the women and children of 
the Wampanoags had been received and sheltered. The wavering Canon- 
chet was given his choice of peace or war. He cowered before the Eng- 
lish muskets and signed a treaty, agreeing that his nation sliould observe 
neutrality and deliver up all fugitives from the hostile tribe. Still, it 
was only a question of time ^\•hen the Narragansetts would break their 
covenant and espouse the cause of Philijj. 

The war was now transferred to the Connecticut valley. It had 
been hoped that the Nij^mucks would remain loj'al to the English ; but 
the influence of the exiled chieftain prevailed with them to take up arms. 
As usual with savages, treachery was added to hos- 
tility. Captains Wheeler and Hutchinson, Mith a 
company of twenty men, were sent to Brookfield to 
liold a conference with ambassadors from the Nip- 
muck nation. Instead of preparing for the council, 
the Indians laid an ambush near the vil/age, and 
when the English were well surrounded, fired upon 
them, killing nearly the whole company. A few 
survivors, escaping to the settlement, gave the alarm, 
and the jjeople fled to their block-house just in 
time to save their lives. 

For two days the place was assailed with every 
missile that savage ingenuity could invent. Finally, 
the house was fired with burning arrows, and the 
destruction of all seemed certain; but just as the roof 
began to blaze, the friendly clouds poured down a shower of rain, and 
the flames were extinguished. Then came reinforcements from Spring- 
field, and the Indians fled. The people of Brookfield now abandoned 
their homes and sought refuge in the .towns along the river. On the 
26th of August, a battle was fought in the outskirts of Deerfield. The 
\vhites were successful ; but a few days afterward the .savages succeeded 
in firing the village, and the greater part of it was burned to the ground. 
A storehouse containing the recently-gathered harvests was saved, and 





s X ^\ 












A/V, £ /VCn^ 












1 (r^'' 7 










A i-^lvl 




" ' ^ .P^Vi' 







SECOND SCENE OP 
KINQ PHILIP'S WAR. 



142 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Captaiu liatlirop, witli a eouipany of eighty picked men, undertook the 
dangerous task of removing the stores to Hadley. A train of wagons, 
loaded with -wheat anil corn and guarded by the soldiers, left Deerlield on 
the 18th of September, and had proceeded five miles, when thev were 
suddenly surrounded by eight hundred Indians who lay in ambush at 
the ford of a small creek. The whites fought desperately, and were 
killed almost to a man. Meanwhile, Captain Mosely, at the head of 
seventy militia, arrived, and the battle continued, the English retreating 
until they were reinforced by a band of a hundred and sixty English and 
Mohegans. The savages were then beaten back with heavy losses. The 
little stream where this fatal engagement occurred, was henceforth called 
Bloody Brook. 

On the same day of the burning of Deerileld, Hadley was attacked 
M'hile the people were at church. Everything was in confusion, and the 
barbarians had already begun their work of butclvery, wlien tiic gray- 
haired General GofFe, who was concealed in the village, rushed forth from 
his covert, and by rallying and directing the flying people saved tliem 
from destmction. After the Indians had been driven into the woods, the 
aged veteran went back to his hiding-place, and was .seen no more. Late 
in the autumn, a battle was fought at Sjiringfield ; the town was assaulted 
and most of the dwellings burned. Another attack was made on Hadley, 
and a large part of the village was left in ashes. Hatfield was the next 
object of savage vengeance ; but hei'e the English were found prepared, 
and the Indians were repulscfl with heavy losses. The farms and the 
weaker settlements were now aljandoned, and the people sought shelter in 
the stronger towns ne:ir the river. 

Philip, finding that he could do no further harm on the northern 
frontier, gathered his warriors together and repaired to the Nai-ragansetts. 
By receiving them, Canonchet openly violated his treaty with the Eng- 
lish, but to refuse them was contrary to tlie savage virtues of his race. 
To share the dubious fate of Philip was preferred to the longer con- 
tinuance of a hateful alliance with foreigners. The authorities of Massa- 
chusetts immediately declared war against the Narragansett nation, and 
Rhode Island was invaded by a thousand men under command of Colonel 
Josiah Winslow. It was the determination to crush the Wampanoags 
and the Narragansetts at one blow ; the manner of defence adopted by 
the savages favored such an undertaking. In the middle of an immense 
cedar swamp, a short distance south-west of Kingston, in the county of 
Washington, the Indians collected to the number of three thousand. 
Into this place was gathered the whole wealth of the Xarragansett nation. 
A village of wigwams extended over several acres of land that rose out 



MASSACHUSETTS.— KING PHILIP'S WAR. 



143 



of the surrounding morasses. A fort was built on the island, and fortified 
with a palisade and a breastwork of felled timber. Here the savages be- 
lieved themselves secure from assault. The English regiment arrived at 
the swamp at daybreak on the 19th of December, and struggling through 
the bogs, reached the fort at noonday. The attack was made imme- 
diately. The only entrance to the camp was by means of a fallen tree 
that lay from an opening in the palisade to the opposite bank of a pond. 
Over this hazardous passage a brave 




^-V«/0'" 



TJIIKD SCENE OF KING PHILIP'S WAR. 



few sprang forward, but were in 
stantly swept off by the fire of the 
Indians. Another company, made 
cautious by the fate of their com- 
rades, crept around the defences, im- 
til, finding a point unguarded, they 
charged straight into the enclosure. 
The work of death and destruction 
now began in earnest. The wigwams 
were set on fire, and the kindling 

flames swept around the village. The yells of the combatants mingled 
Avith the roar of the conflagration. But the superior discipline and 
valor of the whites soon decided the battle. The Indians, attempting 
to escape from the burning fort, ran everywhere upon the loaded muskets 
of the English. A thousand warriors were killed and hundreds more 
were captured. Nearly all the wounded perished in the flames. There, 
too, the old men, the women and babes of the nation met the horrors 
of death by fire. The pride of the Narragansetts had perished in a day. 
But the victory was dearly purchased ; eighty English soldiers, including 
six captains of the regiment, were killed, and a hundred and fifty others 
were wounded. 

A few of the savages, breaking through the English lines, escaped. 
Led by Philip, they again repaired to the Nipmucks, and with the open- 
ing of spring the war was renewed with more violence than ever. As 
their fortunes declined the Indians grew desperate; they had nothing 
more to lose. Around three hundred miles of frontier, extending from 
Maine to the mouth of the Connecticut, there was massacre and devasta- 
tion. Lancaster, Medfield, Groton and ]\Iarlborough were laid in ashes. 
Weymouth, within twenty miles of Boston, met the same fate. Every- 
where were seen the traces of rapine and murder. 

But the end was near at hand. The resources of the savages were 
■wastetl, and their numbers grew daily less. In April, Canonchet was 
overtaken and captured on the banks of the Blackstone. He was offered 



144 ■ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

liis life if lie would procure a treaty of peace; but the haughty chieftaia 
rejected the proposal with dLsdaiu, and was put to death. Philip was still 
at large, but his company had dwindled to a handful. In the early sum- 
mer, liis wife and son were made prisoners ; the latter was sold as a slave, 
and ended his life under the lash of a taskmaster in the Bermudas. The 
savage monarch was heartbroken now, and cared no longer for his life. 
Eepairing secretly to his old home at Mount Hope, his place of conceal- 
ment was revealed to the whites. A company of soldiers was sent to sur- 
round him. A treacherous Indian guided the party to the spot, and then 
himself, stealing nearer, took a deadly aim at the breast of his chieftain. 
The report of a musket rang through the forest, and the painted king 
of the Wampanoags sprang forward and fell dead. 

New England suffered terribly in this war. The expenses and 
losses of the Mar amounted to fully five hundred thoasand dollars. 
Thirteen towns and six hundred dwellings lay smouldering in ashes. 
Almost every family had heard the war-whoop of the savages. Six 
hundred men, the flower and pride of the country, had fallen in the field. 
Hundreds of families had been butchered in cold blood. Gray-haired 
sire, mother and babe had sunk together under the vengeful blow of the 
red man's gory tomahawk. Now there was peace again. The Indian 
race was swept out of New England. The tribes beyond the Connecticut 
came humbly submissive, and pleaded for their lives. The colonists re- 
turned to their desolated farms and villages to build new homes in the 
ashes of old ruins. 

The echo of King Philip's war had hardly died away before the 
country was involved in troubles of a different sort. It had been ex- 
pected that the English government would do something to repair the 
hea\y losses M'hich the colonists had sustained ; but not so. Instead of 
help came Edward Randolph, a royal emissary, \vith authority to collect 
duties and abridge colonial liberties. Governor Leverett received him 
coldly, and told him in plain words that not even the king could right- 
fully restrict the freedom of his American subjects; that the people of the 
colonies had finished the Indian war without a cent of expense to the 
English treasury, and that they were now fairly entitled to the enjoyment 
of their chartered rights. After a six weeks' sojourn at Boston, Randolph 
sailed back to London, bearing to the ministry an exaggerated account 
of colonial arrogance. The king was already scheming to revoke all the 
New England charters ; Randolph's reception furnished a further pretext 
for such a course of action. 

The next trouble was concerning the jurisdiction of Maine. Sir 
Ferdinand Gorges, the old projjrietor of that province, was now dead ; 




DEATH OF KING PHILIP. 



MASSACHUSETTS.— KING PHILIP'S WAR. 145 

but his heirs had never relinquished their claims to the territory. The 
people of Maine had meanwhile put themselves under the authority of 
Massachusetts ; but the representatives of Gorges carried the matter before 
the privy council, and in 1677 a decision was rendered in their favor. 
Thereupon the Boston government made a jjroposition to the Gorges 
family to purchase their claims ; the proposition was accepted, and on the 
(Jth of INIay the heirs signed a deed by which, in consideration of twelve 
hundred and fifty pounds sterling, the soil and jurisdiction of the province 
were transferred to Massachasetts. 

A similar difficulty arose in regard to New Hampshire. As far 
back as 1622 the Plymouth council had granted this territory to two of 
their own number — Gorges, just mentioned, and Captain John Mason. 
Seven years after the grant was made, Gorges surrendered his claim to 
Mason, who thus became sole proprietor. But this territory was also 
covered by the charter of Massachusetts. Mason died; and now, in 1679, 
his son Robert came forward and claimed the province. This cause was 
also taken before the ministers, who decided that the title of the younger 
Mason was valid. To the great disappointment of the people of both 
provinces, the two governments Avere arbitrarily separated. The king's 
policy was now made manifest. A royal government, the first in New 
England, was immediately established over New Hampshire ; Mason 
nominated Edward Cranfield as governor, the king confirmed the ap- 
pointment, and received in return one-fifth of all the rents. 

But the people took care that the rents should not amount to much. 
They refused to recognize Cranfield's commission, and thwarted his plans 
in every way possible. Being in despair, he \\Tote to the English govern- 
ment that he would esteem it the greatest happiness to return home and 
leave the unreasonable people of New Hampshire to themselves. The 
king attributed all this trouble to the influence of Massachusetts. He 
could not forget how that commonwealth had treated his custom-house 
officer Randolph. The hostility of the English government to the exist- 
ing order of things in New England became more bitter than ever. To 
carry out his plan of subverting the colonial governments, the king 
directed his judges to make an inquiiy as to whether Massachusetts had 
not forfeited her charter. The proceedings were protracted until the 
summer of 1 684, when the royal court gave a decision in accordance with 
the monarch's wishes. The patent was forfeited, said the judges; and 
the English crown might jastly assume entire control of the colony. The 
plan of the king was thus on the point of realization, but the shadow of 
death was already at his door. On the 6th of February, 1685, his evil 
reign of twenty-five years ended with his life. 

10 



146 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The new sovereign, James II., immediately adopted his brother'? 
colonial policy. In the next year after his accession, the scheme so long 
entertained was successfully carried out. The charter of Massachusetts 
was formally revoked ; all the colonies between Nova Scotia and Narra- 
gansett Bay were consolidated, and Joseph Dudley appointed president. 
New England was not prepared for open resistance ; the colonial assembly 
was dissolved by its own act, and the members returned sullenly to their 
homas. In the winter following, Dudley was superseded by Sir Edmund 
Andros, who had been appointetl royal governor of all New England. 
His commission ought to have been entitled An Article for the 
Destruction of Colonial Liberty. If James II. had searched his 
kingdom, he could hardly have found a tool better fitted to do his will. 
The scarlet-coated despot landed at Boston on the 20th of December, and 
at once began the work of demolishing the cherished institutions of the 
people. Randolph was made chief secretary and censor of the press; 
nothing might be printed without his sanction. Popular representation 
was abolished. Voting by ballot was prohibited. Town meetings were- 
forbidden. The Church of England was openly encouraged. The public 
schools were allowed to go to ruin. Men were arrested without warrant 
of law ; and when as prisoners they arose in court to plead the privileges 
of the great English charter which had stood unquestioned for four hun- 
dred and fifty years, they were told that tlie Great Charter was not made 
for the perverse people of America. Dudley, who had been continued in 
office as chief-justice, was in the habit of saying to hLs packed juries, at 
the close of each trial : " Now, worthy gentlemen, we expect a good ver- 
dict from you to-day ;" and the verdicts were rendered accordingly. 

Thus did Massachusetts lose her liljerty ; and Plymouth fared no 
better. If the stronger colony fell prostrate, what could the weaker do ? 
The despotism of Andros was quickly extended from Cape Cod Bay to ■ 
the Piseataqua. New Hampshire was next invaded and her civil rights 
completely overthrown. Rhode Island suffered the same calamity. In 
May of 1686 her charter was taken away with a writ, and her constitu- 
tional rights subverted. Some of the colonists brought forward Indiau 
deeds for their lands ; the royal judges replied, with a sneer, that the sig- 
nature of Massasoit was not worth as much as the scratch of a bear's paw. 
The seal of Rhode Island was broken, and an irresponsible council ap- 
pointed to conduct the government. Attended by an armed guard, Andros 
proceeded to Connecticut. Arriving at Hartford in October of 1687, he 
found the assembly of the province in session, and demanded the surren- 
der of the colonial charter. The instrument was brought in and laid upon 
the table. A spirited debate ensued, and continued until evening. When 



MASSACHUSETTS.— WAR AND WITCHCRAFT. 147 

it was about to be decided tlaat the charter should be given up, the lamps 
were suddenly dashed out. Other lights were brought in ; but the char- 
ter had disappeared. Joseph Wadsworth, snatching up the precious 
parchment, bore it oiF through the darkness and concealed it in a hollow 
tree, ever afterward remembered with affection a.s The Charter Oak. 
But the assembly was overawed and the free government of Connecticut 
subverted. Thus wa.s the authority of Andros established throughout 
the country. The people gave vent to their feelings by calling him The 
Tyrant of New England. 

But his dominion ended suddenly. The English Revolution of 
1688 was at hand. James II. was driven from his throne and kingdom. 
The entire system of arbitrary rule which that mouarch had established 
fell with a crash, and Andros with the rest. The news of the revolution 
and of the accession of William and Mary reached Boston on the 4th of 
April, 1689. A few days afterward, the governor had occasion to write 
a note to his colonel of militia, telling him to keep the soldiei-s under 
arms, as there was "a general buzzing among the people." On the 18th 
of the month, the citizens of Charlestown and Boston rose in open rebel- 
lion. Andros and his minions, attempting to escape, were seized and 
marched to prison. The insurrection spread through the countiy; and 
before the 10th of May every colony in New England had restored its 
former liberties. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

MASSACHUSETTS.— WAR AND WITCHCRAFT. 

IN 1689, war was declared between France and England. This con- 
flict, known in American history as King William's War, grew 
out of the English Revolution of the preceding year. When James II. 
escaped from his kingdom, he found refuge at the court of Louis XIV. 
of France. The two raonarchs were both Catholics, and both held the 
same despotic theory of government. On this account, and from other 
considerations, an alliance was made between them, by the t'^.rms of which 
Louis agreed to support James in his effort to reco%'er the English throne. 
Parliament, meanwhile, had settled the crown on William of Orange. 
By these means the new sovereign was brought into conflict not onlj-' 
with the exiled James, but also with his confederate, the king of Franc<;, 



148 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The wax which thus originated in Europe soon extended to the American 
colonies of the two nations ; New England and New France entered the 
conflict under the flags of their respective countries. 

The struggle began on the north-eastern frontier of New Hamp- 
shire. On the 27th of June, a party of Indians in alliance with the 
French made an attack on Dover. The venerable magistrate of the 
to^vn, Richard Waldron, now eighty years of age, was inhumanly mur- 
dered. Twenty-three othei-s were killed, and twenty-nine dragged off" 
captive into the wilderness. 

In August a war-party of a hundred Abenakis embarked in a fleet 
of canoes, floated out of the mouth of the Penobscot, and steered down 
the coast to Pemaquid, now Bremen. The inhabitants were taken by 
surprise ; a comjiany of farmers were surrounded in the harvest-field and 
murdered. The fort was besieged for two days and compelled to sur- 
render. A few of the people escaped into the woods, but the greater 
number were killed or carried away captive. A month later an alliance 
was effected between the English and the powerful Mohawks west of the 
Hudson ; but the Indians refused to make w^ar upon their countrymen of 
Maine. The Dutch settlements of New Netherland, having now passed 
under the dominion of England, made common cause against the French. 

In January of IfiOO a regiment of French and Indians left Montreal 
and directed their march to the south. Crossing the Mohawk River, they 
arrived on the 8tli of February at the village of Schenectady. Lying 
concealed in the forest until midnight, they stole through the unguarded 
gates, raised the war-whoop and began the work of death. The town was 
soon in flames. Sixty people were killed and scalped ; the rest, escaping 
half clad into the darkness, ran sixteen miles through the snow to Albany. 
The settlement of Salmon Falls, on the Piscataqua, was next attacked and 
destroyed by a war-party led by the Frenchman Hertel. Joining another 
company from Quebec, under command of Portneuf, the savages pro- 
ceeded against the colony at Casco Bay. The English fort at ihat place 
was taken and the settlements broken up. Thus far the fortunes of the 
war had been wholly on the side of the French and their allies. 

But New England was now thoroughly aroused. In order to pro- 
vide the ways and means of war, a colonial congress was convened at New 
York. Here it was resolved to attempt the conquest of Canada by march- 
ing an army by way of Lake Champlain against Montreal. At the same 
time, Massachusetts was to co-operate with the land forces by sending a 
fleet by way of the St. Lawrence for the reduction of Quebec. Thirt\'- 
four vessels, carrying two thousand troops, were accordingly fitted out, and 
the command given to Sir William Phipps. Proceeding first against Port 



MASSACHUSETTS.— WAR AND WITCHCRAFT. 149 

Roya], he compelled a surrender ; the whole of Nova Scotia submitted 
without a struggle. If the commander had sailed at once against Quebec, 
that place too would have been forced to capitulate ; but vexatious delays 
retarded the expedition until the middle of October. Meanwhile, au 
Abenaki Indian had carried the news of the coming armament to Fronte- 
nac, governor of Canada ; and when the ileet came in sight of the town, 
the castle of St. Louis was so well garrisoned and provisioned as to bid 
defiance to the English forces. Tlie opportunity was lost, and it only 
remained for Phipps to sail back to Boston. To meet the expenses of 
this unfortunate expedition, Massachusetts was obliged to issue bills of 
credit which were made a legal tender in the payment of debt. Such 
was the origin of papek money in America. 

Meanwhile, the land forces had proceeded from Albany as far as 
Lake Champlain. Here dissensions arose among the commanders. 
Colonel Leisler of New York charged Winthrop of Connecticut with 
treachery ; and the charge was returned that Leisler's commissaiy had 
furnished no supplies for the Connecticut sokliei-s. The quarrel became 
so violent that the expedition had to be abandoned, and the troops 
marched gloomily homeward. The great campaign had resulted in com- 
plete humiliation. 

Sir William Phijjps had as little success in civil matters as in the 
command of a fleet. Shortly after his return from Quebec he was .sent as 
ambassador to England. The objects of his mission were, in the first 
place, to procure aid from the English government in the further prose- 
cution of the war ; and secondly, to secure, if possible, a reissue of the old 
colonial charter. To the first of these requests the ministers replied that 
the armies and navies of England could not be spared to take part in 
a petty Indian war ; and the second was met with coldness and refusal. 
King William was secretly opposed to the liberal provisions of the former 
charter, and looked with disfavor on the project of renewing it. It is 
even doubtful whether Phipps himself desired the restoration of the old 
patent ; for when he returned to Boston in the spring of 1692, he bore a 
new instrument from the king, and a commission as royal governor of the 
province. By the terms of this new constitution, Plymouth, Maine and 
Nova Scotia were consolidated with Massachusetts; while New Hamp- 
shire, against the protests and petitions of her people, was forcibly sepa- 
rated from the mother colony. 

The M-ar still continued, but without decisive results. In 1694, the 
village of Oyster River, now Durham, was destroyed by a band of savages 
led by the French captain Villieu. The inhabitants, to the number of 
ninety-four, were either killed or carried into captivity. Two years later 



150 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the English fortress at Pemaqiiid was a second time surrenderee! to the 
French and Indians, under command of Baron Castin. The captives 
were sent to Boston and exchanged for jirisoners in the hands of the 
English. In the following March, the town of Haverhill, on the Merri- 
mac, was captured under circumstances of special atrocity. Nearly forty 
persons were hutchered in cold blood ; only a few were spared for cai>- 
tivity. Among the latter wa.s Mi-s. Hannah Dustin. Her child, only 
a week old, was snatched out of her arms aud dashed against a tree. The 
heartbroken mother, with her nurse and a lad named Leonardsou, from 
Worcester, was taken by the savages to an island in the ^lerrimac, a short 
distance above Concord. Here, while their captors, twelve in number, 
were asleep at night, the three prisoners arose, silently armed themselves 
with tomahawks, and with one deadly blow after another crushed in the 
temples of the sleeping savages, until ten of them lay still in death ; 
then, embarking in a canoe, the captives dropped down the river and 
readied the English settlement in safety. Mrs. Dustin carried home with 
her the gun and tomahawk of the savage who had destroyed her family, 
and a bag containing the scalps of her neighbors. It is not often that the 
mother of a murdered babe has found such ample vengeance. 

But the war was already at an end. Early in 1697, commissioners 
of France and England assembled at the town of Ryswick, in Holland ; 
and on the 10th of the following September, a treaty of peace M-as con- 
cluded. King; William was acknowledged as the rightful soverciiju of 

?? Coo 

England, and the colonial boundary-Hues of the two uatioas in America 
were established as before. 

Massachusetts had in the mean time been visited with a woree 
calamity than war. Tiie darkest page in the history of New England is 
that which bears the record of the Salem Witchcraft. The same 
town which fifty-seven years previously had cast out Roger Williams wa« 
now to become the scene of the most fatal delusion of modern times. In 
Februar}' of 1692, in that part of Salem afterward called Danvers, a 
daughter and a niece of Samuel Parris, the minister, were attacked with 
a nervous disorder which rendered them partially insane. Parris be- 
lieved, or affected to believe, that the two girls were bewitched, and that 
Tituba, an Indian maid-servant of the household, was the author of the 
affliction. He had seen her performing some of the rude ceremonies of 
her own religion, and this gave color to his suspicions. He tied Tituba, 
and whipped the ignorant creature until, at his own dictation, she con- 
fessed herself a witch. Here, no doubt, the matter would have ended 
had not other causes existed for the continuance and spread of the miser- 
able delusion. 



MASSACHUSETTS.— WAR AND WITCHCRAFT. 151 

But Parris had had a quarrel in his church. A part of the congre- 
gation desired that George Burroughs, a former minister, should be rein- 
stated, to the cxchision of Parris. Burroughs still lived at Salem ; and 
there was great animosity between the partisans of the former and the 
present pastor. Burroughs disbelieved in witchcraft, and openly ex- 
pressed his contempt of the system. Here, then, Parris found an oppor- 
tunity to turn the confessions of the foolish Indian servant against his 
enemies, to overwhelm his rival with the superetitions of the community, 
and perhaps to have him put to death. There is no doubt whatever that 
the whole murderous scheme originated in the personal malice of Parris. 

But there were others ready to aid him. First among these wa.s 
the celebrated Cotton Mather, minister of Boston. He, being in high re- 
pute for wisdom, had recently preached much on the subject of witchcraft, 
teaching the people that witches were dangerous and ought to be put to 
death. He thus became the natural confederate of Parris, and the chief 
author of the terrible scenes that ensued. Sir William Phipps, the royal 
governor, who had just arrived from England, was a member of Mather's 
church. Increase Mather, the father of Cotton, had nominated Phipps to 
his present office. Stoughton, the deputy-governor, who Mas appointed 
judge and presided at the trials of the witches, wa.s the tool of Parris and 
the two Matliei"s. To these men, more especially to Parris and Mather, 
must be charged the full infamy of what followed. 

By the laws of England witchcraft was punishable with death. 
The code of Massachusetts was the same as that of the mother-country. 
In the early history of the colony, one person charged with being a 
wizard had been arrested at Charlestown, convicted and executed. But 
with the progress and enlightenment of the people, many had grown bold 
enough to denounce and despise the baleful superstition. Something, 
therefore, had to be done to save the tottering fabric of witchcraft from 
falling into contempt. A special court was accordingly app minted by 
Governor Phipps to go to Salem and to sit in judgment on the persons 
accused by Parris. Stoughton was the presiding judge, Parris himself 
the prosecutor, and Cotton Mather a kind of bishop to decide when the 
testimony was sufficient to condemn. 

On the 21st of INIarch, the horrible proceedings began. Mary Cory 
was arrested, not indeed for being a witch, but for denying the reality of 
witchcraft. When brought before the church and court, she denied all 
guilt, but was convicted and hurried to prison. Sarah Cloyce and 
Rebecca Nurse, two sisters of the most exemplary lives, were next appre- 
hended as witches. The only witnesses against them were Tituba, her half- 
witted Indian husband and the simple girl Abigail Williams, the niece 



152 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of Parris. The victims were sent to prison, protesting their innocence. 
Giles Cory, a patriarch of eighty yeare, was next seized ; he also was one 
of those who had opposed Parris. The Indian accuser fell down before 
Edward Bishop, pretending to be in a fit under Satanic influence ; the 
stui-dy flirmer cured him instantly with a sound flogging, and said that 
he could restore the rest of the afHicted in the same manner. He and his 
wife were immediately arrested and condemned. George Burroughs, the 
rival of Parris, was accused and hurried to prison. And so the work 
went on, until seventy-five innocent people were locked up in dungeons. 
Not a solitary partisan of Parris or Mather had been arrested. 

In the hope of saving their lives, some of the terrified prisoners 
now began to confess themselves witches, or bewitched. It was soon 
found that a confession was almost certain to procure liberation. It be- 
came evident that the accused were to be put to death, not for being 
witches or wizards, but for denying the reality of witchcraft. The special 
court wa.s already in session ; convictions followed fast ; the gallows stood 
waiting for its victims. The truth of Mather's preaching was to be estab- 
lished by hanging whoever denied it ; and Parris was to save his pastorate 
by murdering his rival. When the noble Burroughs mounted the scaffold, 
he stood composedly and repeated correctly the test-prayer which it Avas 
said no wizard could utter. The people broke into sobs and moans, and 
would have rescued their friend from death ; but the tyrant IVIather dashed 
among them on horseback, muttering imprecations, and drove the hang- 
man to his horrid work. Old Giles Cory, seeing tliat c(jnvictiou was cer- 
tain, refused to plead, and was pressed to death. Five women were hanged 
in one day. Between the 10th of June and the 22d of September, twentv 
victims were hurried to their doom. Fifty-fiA-e others had been toi-tured 
into the confession of abominable falsehoods. A hundred and fifty lay in 
prison awaiting their fate. Two hundred were accused or suspected, and 
ruin seemed to impend over New England. But a reaction at last set in 
among the people. Notwithstanding the vociferous clamor and denuncia- 
tions of Mather, the witch tribunals were overthrown. The representative 
assembly convened early in October, and the hated court which Phipps 
had appointed to sit at Salem was at once dismissed. The spell was dis- 
solved. The thralldora of the popular mind was broken. Reason shook 
off the terror that had oppressed it. The prison doors were opened, and 
the victims of malice and superstition went forth free. In the beginning 
of the next year a few persons charged with witchcraft were again 
arraigned and brought before the courts. Some were oven convicted, but 
the convictioa went for nothing ; not another life was sacrificed to passion 
and fanaticism. 



MASSACHUSETTS.— WARS OF ANNE AND GEORGE. 153 

Most of those who had participated in the terrible deeds of the 
preceding summer confessed the great wrong which they had done ; but 
confessions could not restore the dead. The bigoted Mather, in a vain 
attempt to justify himself before the world, wrote a treatise in which he 
expressed his great thankfulness that so many witches had met their just 
loom. It is not the least humiliating circumstance of this sad business 
that Mather's hypocritical and impudent book received the approbation 
of the president of Harvard College. In all this there is to the American 
student one consoling reflection — the pages of his country's history will 
never again be blotted with so dark a stain. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

MASSACHUSHTTS.— WARS OF ANNE AND GEORGE. 

THE peace which followed the treaty of Ryswick was of short dura- 
tion. Within less than four years France and England were again 
involved in a conflict which, beginning in Europe, soon extended to the 
American colonies. In the year 1700, Charles II., king of Spain, died, 
having named as his successor Philip of Anjou, a grandson of Louis 
XIV. This measure pointed clearly to a union of the crowns of France 
and Spain. The jealousy of all Europe was aroused ; a league was 
formed between England, Holland and Austria ; the archduke Charles 
of the latter country was put forward by the allied powers as a candidate 
for tlie Spanish throne; and war was declared against Louis XIV. for 
supporting the claims of Philip. 

England had against France another cause of offence. In Septem- 
ber of 1701, James II., the exiled king of Great Britain, died at the court 
of Louis, who now, in violation of the treaty of Ryswick, recognized the 
son of James as the rightful sovereign of England. This action was re- 
garded as an oj)en insult to English nationality. King William led his 
armies to the field not less to thwart the ambition of France than to save 
his own crown and kingdom. But the English monarch did not live to 
carry out his plans. While yet tlie war was hardly begun, the king fell 
from his horse, was attacked with fever, and died in May of 1702. 
Parliament had already settled the crown on Anne, the sister-in-law 
of William and daughter of James II. The new sovereign adopted the 



154 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

policy of her predecessor. From the circumstance of her reign, the con- 
flict with France, which lasted for nearly thirteen years, is known in his- 
tory as Queen Anne's War ; but a better name is The War of the 
Spanish Succession. 

In America the field of operations was limited to New England 
and South Carolina. The central colonies were scarcely aware that wai 
existed. The military operations of both parties were conducted in a 
feeble and desultoiy manner. The more influential Indian tribes held 
aloof from the struggle. In August, 1701, the powerful Five Nations, 
whose dominions south of Lake Ontario and the river St. Lawrence formed 
a Ijarrier between Canada and New York, made a treaty of neutrality 
with both the French and the English. The Abenakis of Maine did the 
same; but the French Jesuits prevailed with the latter to break their 
compact. The first notice of treachery which the English had, was a 
fearful massacre. In one day tiie whole country between the town of 
Wells and the Bay of Casco was given up to burning and butchery. 

In midwinter of 1703—1 the town of Deerfield was destroyed. A 
war-part\' of three hundred French and Indians, setting out from Canada, 
marched on the snow-crust into the Connecticut valley. On the last 
night of February, the savages lay in the pine forest that surrounded the 
ill-fated village. Just before daybreak they rushed from their covert and 
fired the houses. Forty-seven of the inhabitants were tomahawked. A 
hundred and twelve were dragged into captivity. The prisoners, many 
of them women and children, were obliged to march to Canada. The 
snow lay four feet deep. The poor wretches, haggard with fear and 
starvation, sank down and died. The deadly hatchet hung ever above 
the heads of the feeble and the sick. Eunice Williams, the minister's 
wife, fainted by the wayside ; in the presence of her husband and five 
captive children, her brains were dashed out with a tomahawk. Those 
who survived to the end of the journey -were afterward ransomed and 
permitted to return to their desolated homes. A daughter of Mr. ^\'il- 
liams remained with the savages, grew up among the Mohawks, married 
a chieftain, and in after yeai-s returned in Indian garb to Deerfield. No 
entreaties could induce her to remain with her friends. The solitude of 
the woods and the society of her tawny husband had prevailed over the 
charms of civilization. 

In Maine and New Hampshire the war was marked with similar 
barbarities. Farms were devastated •, towns were burned ; the inhabitants 
were murdered or carried to Canada. Prowling bands of savages, led on 
by French officers, penetrated at times into the heart of Massachusetts. 
Against the treacherous barbarians and ti'.eir bloodthirsty leaders there 



MASSACHUSETTS.— WARS OF ANNE AND GEORGE. 155 

was no security either at home or abroad. Along the desolated frontier 
ruin prevailed, as in the days of King Philip. 

In 1707, the reduction of Port Royal was undertaken by Mai?sa- 
chusetts. A fleet, bearing a thousand soldiers, was equipped and sent 
against the town. But Baron Castin, who commanded the French garri- 
son, conducted the defence with so much skill that tlie English were 
obliged to abandon the undertaking. From this costly and disastrous 
'expedition Massachusetts gained nothing but discouragement and debt. 
Nevertheless, after two years of prejiaration, the enterprise was renewed ; 
and in 1710 an English and American fleet of thirty-six vessels, having 
on board four regiments of ti-oops, anchored before Port Royal. The 
garrison was weak ; Subercase, the French connnander, had neither 
talents nor courage ; famine came ; and after a feeble defence of eleven 
days, the place surrendered at discretion. By this conquest all of Nova 
Scotia passed under the dominion of the English. The flag of Great 
Britain was hoisted over the conquered fortress, and the name of Port 
Royal gave place to Annapolis, in honor of Queen Anne. 

Vast preparations were now made for the invasion of Canada. A 
land force under conmiand of General Nicholson was to march against 
Montreal, while Quebec, the key to the French dominions in America, 
was to be reduced by an English fleet. For this purpose fifteen men-of- 
war and forty transports were placed under command of Sir Hovenden 
Walker. Seven regiments of veterans, selected from the armies of Europe, 
were added to the colonial forces and sent with the expedition. Before 
such an armament the defences of Quebec could hardly hold out an hour. 
But for the utter incompetency of the admiral, success would have been 
assured. 

For six weeks in midsummer the great fleet lay idly in Boston Har- 
bor. Sir Hovenden was getting ready to sail. The Abenaki Indians 
carried the news leisurely to Quebec ; and every day added to the strength 
of the ramparts. At last, on the 30th of July, when no further excuse 
could be invented, tho ships set sail for the St. Lawrence. At the Bay 
of Gasp6 the admiral thought it necessary to loiter a while; then he 
busied himself with devising a plan to save his ships from the ice during 
the next winter. Proceeding slowly up the St. Lawrence, the fleet, on 
the 22d of August, was enveloped in a thick fog. The wind blew hard 
from the east. The commander was cautioned to remain on deck, but 
went quietly to bed. A messenger aroused him just in time to see eight 
of his best vassels dashed to jiieces on the rocks. Eight hundred and 
eighty-four men went down in the foaming whirlpools. A council of war 
vas held, and all voted that it was impossible to proceed. In a letter to 



156 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the English government, Walker expressed great gratitude that by the 
loss of a thousand men the rest had been saved from freezing to death at 
Quebec. The fleet sailed back to England, and the colonial troops were 
disbanded at Boston. 

Meanwhile, the army of General Nicholson had marched against 
Montreal. But when news arrived of the failure of the fleet, the land 
expedition was also abandoned. The dallying cowardice of \\"alker had 
brought the campaign of 1711 to a shameful end. Erance had already 
made overtures for peace. Negotiations were formally begun in the early 
part of 1712; and on the lltli of April in the following year a treaty 
was concluded at Utrecht, a town of Holland. By the terms of the settle- 
ment, England obtained control of the fisheries of Neu-foiuidland. Labra- 
dor, the Bay of Hudson and the whole of Acadia, or Nova Scotia, were 
ceded to Great Britain. On tiie 13th of July the chiefs of the hostile 
Indian tribes met the ambassadoi-s of New England at Portsmouth, and a 
second treaty was concluded, by which peace was secured throughout the 
American colonies. 

For thirty-one years after the close of Queen Anne's war, Massa- 
chusetts was free from hostile invasion. This was not, however, a period 
of public tranquillity. The people were dissatisfied with the royal govern- 
ment which King William had established, and were at constant variance 
with their governors. Phipj)s and liLs administration had been heartily 
disliked. Governor Shute was equally unpopular. Burnett, wiio suc- 
ceeded him, and Belcher afterward, were only tolerated because they 
could not be shaken off: The opposition to the royal officei-s took the 
form of a controversy about their salaries. The general assembly in- 
sisted that the governor and his councilors should be paid in proportion 
to the importance of their several offices, and for actual service only. 
But the royal commissions gave to each officer a fixed salary, which was 
frequently out of all jH'oportion to the services required. After many 
years of antagonism, the difficulty was finally adjusted with a comjiroinise 
in which the advantage was wholly on the side of the people. It was 
agreed that tlie salaries of tiie governor and his assistants sliouid be an- 
nually allowed, and the amount fixed by vote of the assembly. The 
representatives of popular liberty had once more triumphed over the 
principles of arbitrary rule. 

On the death of Charles YI. of Austria, in 1740, there were 
two principal claimants to the crown of the empire — Maria Theresa, 
daughter of the late emperor, and Charles Albert of Bavaria. Each 
claimant had his party and his army ; war followed ; and nearly all the 
nations of Europe were s\vEpt into the conflict. As usually happened in 



MASSACHUSETTS.— WARS OF ANNE AND GEORGE. 157 

such struggles, England and France were arrayed against each other. 
The contest that ensued is generally known as the War of the Austrian 
Succession, but in American history is called King George's War ; 
for George II. was now king of England. 

In America the only important event of the war was the capture 
of Louisburg, on Cape Breton Island. This j^lace had been fortified at 
vast expense by the French. Standing at the principal entrance to the 
gulf and river of St. Lawrence, the fortress was regarded as a key to the 
Canadian provinces. Nov/ England was quick to note that both New- 
foundland and Nova Scotia were threatened so long as the French flag 
floated over Louisburg. Governor Shirley brought the matter before the 
legislature of Massachusetts, and it was resolved to attempt the capture 
of the enemy's stronghold. 

The other colonies were invited to aid the enterf)rise. Connecticut 
responded by sending more than five hundred troops ; New Hampshire 
and Rhode Island ea^h furnished three hundred; a park of artillerj' 
was sent from New York ; and Pennsylvania contributed a supply of 
provisions. The forces of Massachusetts alone numbered more than tliree 
thousand. It only remained to secure the co-operation of the English 
fleet then cruising in the West Indies. An earnest invitation was sent to 
Commodore Warren to join his armament with the colonial forces ; but 
having no orders, he declined the request. Everything devolved on the 
army and navy of New England, but there was no quailing under the 
responsibility. William Pepperell, of Maine, was appointed commander- 
in-chief; and on the 4th of April, 1745, the fleet sailed for Cape Breton. 

At Canseau, the eastern cape of Nova Scotia, the expedition was 
detained for sixteen days. The sea was thick with ice-drifts floating 
from the north. But the delay was fortunate, for in the mean time Com- 
modore Warren had received instructions from England to proceed to 
Massachusetts and aid Governor Shirley in the contemplated reduction 
of Cape Breton. Sailing to the north, Warren brought his fleet safely to 
Canseau on the 23d of April. On the last day of the month the arma- 
ment, now numbering a hundred vessels, entered the Bay of Gabarus in 
sight of Louisburg. A landing was effected four miles below the city. 
On the next day a company of four hundred volunteers, led by William 
Vaughan, marched across the peninsula and attacked a French battery 
which had been planted on the shore two miles beyond the town. The 
French, struck with terror at the impetuosity of the unexpected charge, 
spiked their guns and fled. Before morning the cannons M'ere re-drilled 
and turned upon the fortress. An English battery was established on 
the east side of the harbor, but the sea-walls of Louisburg were so strong 



158 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

that little damage was done by the guns across the bay. An attack in 
the rear of the town seemetl impossible on account of a large swamp 
which lay in tliat direction ; but the resolute soldiers of New England 
lashed their heavy guns upon sledges, and dragged them through the 
marsh to a tract of solid ground within two hundred yards of the enemy's 
bastions. Notwithstanding the advantage of this position, the walls of 
the fort stood firm, and the siege progressed slowly. 

On the 18th of May a French ship of sixty-four guns, laden with 
stores for the garrison, was captured by Warren's fleet. The French 
were greatly discouraged by this event, and the defence grew feeble. 
The English were corresjiondingly elated with the prospect of success. 
On the 26th of the month an effort was made to capture the French bat- 
tery in the harbor. A company of daring volunteers undertook the 
hazardous enterprise by night. Embarking in boats, they drew near the 
island where the battery was planted, but were discovered and repulsed 
with the loss of a hundred and seventy-six men. It was now determined 
to carry the town by storm. The assault was set for the 18th of June; 
but on the day previous the desponding garrison sent out a flag of truce ; 
terms of capitulation were proposed and accepted, and the English flag 
rose above the conquered fortress. 

By the terms of this surrender not only Louisburg, but the whole 
of Cape Bretou, was given up to England. The rejoicing at Boston and 

throughout the colonies was only 
equaled by the indignation and alarm 
of the French government. Louis- 
burg must be retaken at all hazards, 
said the ministers of France. For 
this purpose a powerful fleet, under 
command of Duke d'Anville, was sent 
out in the following year. Before 
reaching America the duke died of a 
pestilence. His successor went mad 
SIEGE OF LODisBCRG, 1745. ^ud killed himself. Storms and ship- 

wrecks and disasters drove tlie ill- 
fiited expedition to utter ruin. The renewal of the enterprise, in 1747, 
was attended with like misfortune. Commodores Warren and Anson 
overtook the French squadron and compelled a humiliating surrender. 

In 1748, a treaty of peace was concluded at ALS-la-Chajielle, a 
town of Western Germany. After eight years of devastating warfare, 
nothing was gained but a mutual restoration of conquests. By the terms 
of settlement. Cape Breton was surrendered to France. With grief and 









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MASSACHUSETTS.— WARS OF ANJVE AND GEOBGE. 159 

ehame the fishermen and farmers of New England saw the island which 
had been subdued by their valor restored to their enemies. Of all the 
disputed boundary-lines between the French and English colonies in 
America, not a single one was settled by this treaty. The Euroi)ean 
nations had exhausted themselves with fighting ; what cared they for tlie 
welfare of distant and feeble provinces? The real war between France 
and England for colonial suj)remacy in the West was yet to be fought. 
Within six years after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the two great powers 
were involved in the final and decisive conflict. 

The history of Massachusetts has now been traced through a period 
of a hundred and thirty years. A few words on THE Character of 
THE Puritans may be appropriately added. They were in tlie begin- 
ning a vigorous and hardy people, firm-set in the principles of lionesty 
and the practices of virtue. They were sober, industrious, frugal ; reso- 
lute, zealous and steadfast. They esteemed honor above preferment, and 
truth more than riches. Loving home and native land, they left both 
for the sake of freedom ; and finding freedom, they cherished it with the 
zeal and devotion of martyi-s. Without influence, they became influential ; 
without encouragement, great. Desj)ised and mocked and hated, they 
rose above their revilers. In the school of evil fortune they gained the 
discipline of patience. Suffering without cause brought resignation with- 
out desjjair. Themselves the victims of persecution, they became the 
founders of a colony — a commonwealth — a nation. They were the chil- 
dren of adversity and the fathers of renown. 

The gaze of the Puritan was turned ever to posterity. He believed 
in the future. His affections and hopes were with the coming ages. For 
his children he toiled and sacrificed ; for them the energies of his life were 
cheerfully exhausted. The system of free schools is the enduring monu- 
ment of his love and devotion. The printing-press is his memorial. 
Almshouses and asylums are the tokens of his care for the unfortunate. 
With him the outcast found sympathy, and the wanderer a home. He 
was the earliest champion of civil rights, and the builder of the Union. 

The fathers of New England have been accused of bigotry. Tlu 
charge is true : it is the background of the picture. In matters of re- 
ligion they were intolerant and superstitious. Their religious faith n'as 
gloomy and foreboding. Human life was deemed a sad and miserable 
journey. To be mistaken was to sin. To fail in trifling ceremonies was 
reckoned a grievous crime. In the shadow of such belief the people be- 
came austere and melancholy. Escaping from the splendid formality of 
the Episcoi)al Church, they set up a colder and severer form of worsljp ; 
and the form was made like iron. Dissenters themselves, they could not 



160 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

tolerate the dissent of others. To restrain and punish error seemed 
right and necessary. Williams and Hutchinson were banished ; the 
Quakers were persecuted and the Avitches hanged. But Puritanism 
contained within itself the power to correct its own abuses. Within 
the austere and gloomy fabric dwelt the very soul and genius of Feke 
Thought. Under the ice-bound rigors of the faith flowed a current 
which no fatalism could congeal, no superstition poison. The heart 
of a mighty, tumultuous, liberty-loving life throbbed within the cold, 
stiff body of formalism. A jwwerful vitality, which no disaster could 
subdue, no persecution quench, warmed and energized and quickened. 
The tyranny of Phipps, the malice of Parris, and the bigotry of Mather 
are far outweighed by the sacrifices of Winthrop, the beneficence of 
Harvard, and the virtues of Sir Henry Vane. The evils of the sys- 
tem may well be forgotten in the glory of its achievements. Without 
the Puritans, America would have been a delusion and liberty only a 
name. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 
NEW YORK.—SETTLEMENT 



ILLUSTRIOUS Sir Henry Hudson ! Indomitable explorer, daunt- 
less cavalier of the ocean ! Who so worthy to give a name to tlie 
great inland sea of the frozen North as he who gave his life in heroic 
combat with its terrors ? Who so fit to become the father of a colony 
in the New World as he who braved its perils and revealed its mys- 
teries ? And where should the new State be planted unless by the 
broad haven — broadest and best on the American coast — and among 
the beautiful hills and landscapes 

Where The Hudson came rolling tlirough valleys a-smoke 
From the lands of the Iroquois? 

It was the good fortune of the American colonies to be founded b_r 
men whose lives, like the setting suns of summer, cast behind tliein 
a long and glorious twilight. But for the name and genius of Hud- 
son the province of New Netherland had never been. 

For ten years after the founding of New Amsterdam the colony 
was governed by directors. These officers were appointed and sent 



I 



JVEIF YORK.— SETTLEMENT. 



IGi 



out by tl<e Dutch East India Company, in accordance with the char- 
ter of that corporation. The settlement on Manhattan Ishmd was as 
yet only a village of ti'aders. Not until 1623 was an actual colony 
sent from Holland 
to New Netherland. 
Two years previous- 
ly, the Dutch "West 
India Company had 
been organized, with 
the exclusive privi- 
lege of planting set- 
tlements in America. 
The charter of this 
company was grant- 
ed for a period of 
tM-enty-four years, 
with the privilege 
of renewal ; and the 
territory to be colo- 
nized extended from 
the Strait of Magel- 
lan to Hudson's Bav. 
Manhattan Island, 
with its cluster of 
huts, passed at once under the control of the new corporation. 

In April of 162.3, the ship New Netherland, having on board a 
colony of thirty families, arrived at New Amsterdam. The colonists, 
called Walloons, were Dutch Protestant refugees from Flanders, in 
Belgium. They were of the same religious faith with the Huguenots of 
France, and came to America to find repose from the persecutions of their 
own country. Cornelius jNIay was the leader of the company. The 
greater number of the new immigrants settled with their friends on iNIan- 
hattan Island ; Ijut the captain, with a party of fifty, passing down the 
coast of New Jersey, entered and explored the Bay of Delaware. Sailing 
up the bay and river, the company landed on the eastern shore ; here, at 
a point a few miles below Camden, where Timber Creek falls into the 
Delaware, a site was selected and a block-house built named Fort Nassau, 
The natives were won over by kindness ; and when shortly after the fort 
was abandoned and the settlers returned to New Amsterdam, the Indians 
witnessed their departure M'ith aflFectionate regret. In the same year 
Joris, another Dutch captain, ascended the Hudson to Castle Island, 




SIR HENR'i HUDSON. 



162 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

where, nine years previously, Christiansen had built the older Fori 
Nassau. A flood in the river had swept the island bare. Not deeming 
it prudent to restore the works in a place likely to be deluged, Joris 
sailed up stream a short distance and rebuilt the fortress on the present 
site of Albany. The name of this northern outpost was changed to Fort 
Orange ; and here the eighteen families of Joris's company were per- 
manently settled. 

In 1624 civil government began in New Nctherland. Cornelius 
May was first governor of the colony. His official duties, however, were 
only such as belonged to the superintendent of a trading-post. In the 
next j-ear William Verhulst became director of the settlement. Herds 
of cattle, swine and sheep were brought over from Holland and distributed 
among the settlers. In January of 1626, Peter Minuit, of Wesel, was 
regularly appointed by the Dutch AVest India Company as governor of 
New Netherlaud. Until this time the natives had retained the owner- 
ship of Manhattan Island ; but on Minuit's arrival, in May, an offer of 
purchase was made and accepted. The whole island, containing more 
than twenty thousand acres, was sold to the Dutch for twenty-four dol- 
lars. The southern point of land was selected as a site for fortifications ; 
there a block-house was built and surrounded with a palisade. New 
Amsterdam was already a town of thirty houses. In the first year of 
Minuit's administration were begun the settlements of Wallabout and 
Brooklyn, on Long Island. 

The Dutch of New Amsterdam and the Pilgrims of New Plymouth 
were early and fast friends. The Puritans themselves had but recently 
arrived from Holland, and could not forget the kind treatment which 
thev had had in that country. They and the Walloons were alike exiles 
fleeing from j)ersecution and tyranny. On two occasions, in 1627, a 
Dutch embassy was sent to Plymouth with an expression of good will. 
The English were cordially invited to remove without molestation to the 
more fertile valley of the Connecticut. Governor Bradford replied with 
words of cheer and sympathy. The Dutch were honestly advised of the 
claims of England to the country of the Hudson ; and the people of New 
Nctherland were cautioned to make good their titles by accepting new 
deeds from the council of Plymouth. A touch of jealousy was manifested 
when the Dutch were warned not to send their trading-boats into the 
Bay of Narragansett. 

In 1628 the population of Manhattan numbered two hundred and 
seventy. The settlers devoted their whole energies to the fur-trade. 
Every bay, inlet and river between Rhode Island and the Delaware was 
visited by their vessels. The colony gave promise of rapid development: 



^^EW YORK.— SETTLEMENT. 165 

and of great profit to tlie proprietors. If the houses were rude and 
tliatched with straw, there were energy and tlirift Avithin. If only wooden 
chimneys carried up the smoke, the fires of the hearthstones were kindled 
with laughter and song. If creaking windmills flung abroad their un- 
gainly arms in the winds of Long Island Sound, it was proof that tb« 
people had families to feed and meant to feed them. 

The West India Company now came forward with a now and pecu- 
liar scheme of colonization. In 1629, the corporation created a Chaeter 
OP Privileges, under which a cla.ss of proprietors called patroons were 
authorized to possess and colonize the country. Each patruoa might 
select anywhere in New Netherland a tract of land not more than sixteen 
miles in length, and of a breadth to be determined by the location. On 
the banks of a navigable river not more than eight miles might be ap- 
propriated by one proprietor. Each district was to be held in fee simple 
by the patroon, who was empowered to exercise over his estate and its 
inhabitants the same authority as did the hereditary lords of Eiu-ope. 
The conditions were that the estates should be held as dependencies of 
Holland ; that each patroon should purchase his domain of the Indians ; 
and that he should, within four years from the date of his title, establish 
on his manor a colony of not less than fifty persons. Education and re- 
ligion were commended in the charter, but no provision was made for 
the support of either. 

Under the provisions of this instrument five estates were imme- 
diately established. Three of them, lying contiguous, embraced a district 
of twenty-four miles in the valley of the Hudson above and below Fort 
Orange. The fourth manor was laid out by Michael Pauw on Staten 
Island ; and the fifth, and most important, included the southern half of 
the present State of Delaware. To this estate a colony was sent out from 
Holland in the spring of 1631. Samuel Godyn was patroon of the do- 
main, but the immediate management was entrusted to David Peterson de 
Vries. With a company of thirty immigrants, he reached the entrance 
to Delaware Bay, and anchored within Cape Henlopen. Landing five 
miles up the bay, at the mouth of Lewis Creek, the colony selected a site 
and laid the foundations of Lewistown, the oldest settlement in Delaware. 

After a year of successful management, De Vries returned to Hol- 
land, leaving the settlement in charge of Gillis Hosset. The latter, a 
man of no sagacity, soon brought the colony to ruin. An Indian chief 
who offended him was seized and put to death. The natives, who thus 
far had treated the strangers with deference and good faith, were aroused 
to vengeance. Rising suddenly out of an ambuscade upon the terrified 
colonists, they left not a man alive. The houses and palisades were 



164 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

burned to the ground ; notliing but bones and ashes remained to testify 
of savage passion. When De Vries returned, in Deeember of 1632, he 
found only the blackened ruins of his flourishing hamlet. He sailed fii-st 
to Virginia for a cargo of suj^plies, and thence to New Amsterdam ; but 
liefore the colony could be re-established. Lord Baltimoi'e had received 
from the English government a patent Avhich embraced the ^A'hole of 
Delaware ; the weaker, though older, claim of the Dutcli patroon gave 
way before the charter of his more powerful rival. 

In Af)ril of 1633, INIinuit was superseded in the government of New 
Netherland by Wouter van Twiller. Three months previously the Dutch 
had purchased of the natives the soil around Hartford, and had erected a 
block-house within the jircsent limits of the city. This was the first 
fortress built on the Connecticut River ; but the Puritans, tliougli pro- 
fessing friendship, were not going to give up the valley without a struggle. 
In October of the same year an armed vessel, sent out from Plymouth, 
sailed up the river and openly defied the Dutch commander at Hartford. 
Pa.ssing the fortress, the English proceeded up stream to the mouth of 
the river Farmiugton, where they landed and built Fort .Windsor. Two 
years later, by the building of Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut, 
the English obtained command of the river both above and below the 
Dutch fort. The block-house at Hartford, being thus cut off, was com- 
paratively useless to the authorities of New Netherland ; English towns 
multiplied in the neighboi'hood ; and the Dutch finally surrendered their 
eastern outpost to their more powerful rivals. 

Four of the leading European nations had now established perma- 
nent colonies in America. The fifth to plant an American State was 
Sweden. As early as 1626, Gustavus Adolplius, the Protestant king 
of that country and tlie hero of his age, had formed the design of estab- 
lishing settlements in the West. For this purpose a company of mer- 
chants had been organized, to whose capital the king himself contributed 
four hundred thousand dollars. The objects had in view were to form a 
refuge for persecuted Protestants and to extend Swedish commerce. But 
before his plans of colonization could be carried into effect, Gustavus be- 
came involved in the Thirty Years' War, then raging in Germany. The 
company was disorganized, and the capital wasted in the purchase of mili- 
tary stores. In November of 1632 the Swedish king was killed at the 
battle of Liltzen. For a while it seemed that the plan of colonizing 
America had ended in failure, but Oxenstiern, the great Swedish minis- 
ter, took up the work which his master had left unfinished. The charter 
of the company was renewed, and after four veal's of preparation the 
enterprise was brought to a successful issue. 




UE VRIES REVISITS HIS RUINED SETTLEMENT. 



JVEW YORK.— SETTLEMENT. 1<55 

In the mean time, Peter Miuuit, the recent governor of New 
Netherland, had left the service of Holland and entered that of Sweden. 
To him was entrusted the management of the first Swedish colony which 
was sent to America. Late in the year 1637, a company of Swedes and 
Finns left the harbor of Stockholm, and in the following February 
arrived in Delaware Bay. Never before had the Northerners beheld so 
beautiful a land. They called Cape Henlopen the Point of Paradise. 
The whole country, sweeping around the west side of the bay and up the 
river to the falls at Trenton, ^v'as honorably purchased of the Indians. 
In memory of native land, the name of New Sweden was given to this 
fine territory. The colony landed just below the mouth of the Brandy- 
wine, in tlie northern part of the present State of Delaware. On the left 
bank of a small tributary, at a point about six miles from the bay, a spot 
was chosen for the settlement. Here the foundations of a fort were laid, 
and the immigrants soon provided themselves with houses. The creek 
and the fort were both named in honor of Christiana, the maiden queen 
of Sweden. 

Tlie colony prospered greatly. By each returning ship letters were 
borne to Stockholm, describing the loveliness of the country. Immigra- 
tion became rapid and constant. At one time, in 1640, more than a hun- 
dred families, unable to find room on the crowded vessels which were 
leaving the Swedish capital, were turned back to their homes. The 
banks of Delaware Bay and River were dotted with pleasant hamlets. 
On every hand appeared the proofs of well-directed industry. Of all 
the early settlers in America, none were more cheerful, intelligent and 
virtuous than the Swedes. 

From the first, the authorities of New Amsterdam were jealous 
of the colony on the Delaware. Sir "William Kieft, who had succeeded 
the incompetent Van Twiller in the governorship, sent an earnest remon- 
strance to Christiana, warning the settlers of their intrusion on Dutch 
territory. But the Swedes, giving little heed to the complaints of their 
neighbors, went on enlarging their borders and strengthening their out- 
posts. Governor Kieft was alarmed and indignant at these aggressions, 
and as a precautionary measure sent a party to rebuild Fort Nassau, on 
the old site below Camden. The Swedes, regarding this fortress as a 
menace to their colony, adopted active m&asures of defence. Ascending 
the river to within six miles of the mouth of the Schuylkill, they landed 
on the island of Tinicum, and built an impregnable fort of hemlock 
logs. Here, in 1643, Governor Printz established his residence. To 
Pennsylvania, as well as to Delaware, Sweden contributed the earliest 
colony. 



166 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

lu 1G40, New Xetherland became involved in a war with tlie 
Indiaas of Long Island and New Jersey. The natives of the lower 
Hudson were a weak and unwarlike people; under just treatment they 
Would have faithfully kept the peace. But dishonest traders had mad- 
dened them with rum and then defrauded and al)used them. Burning 
with resentment and hate, the savages of the Jersey shore crossed over to 
Staten Island, laid waste the farms and butcliered the inhaliitants. New 
Amsterdam was for a while endangered, but M'as soon put in a state 
of defence. A company of militia was organized and sent against the 
Delawares of New Jersey, but nothing resulted from the expedition. A 
lai'ge bounty was offered for every member of the tribe of the Raritans, 
and many were hunted to death. On both sides the war degenerated 
into treachery and nuu'der. Through the mediation of Roger Williams, 
the great peacemaker of Rhode Island, a truce was obtained, and imme- 
diately broken. A chieftain's son, who had been made drunk and robbed, 
went to the nearest settlement and killed the first Hollander whom he 
met. Governor Kieft demanded the criminal, but the sachems refused 
to give him up. They offered to pay a heavy fine for the wrong done, 
but Kieft would accej)t nothing less than the life of the murderer. 

While the dispute was still unsettled, a party of the terrible Mo- 
hawks came down the river to claim and enforce their supremacy over 
the natives of the coast. The timid Algonquins in the neighborhood of 
New Amsterdam cowered bcfi)re the mighty warriors of the North, 
huddled together on the bank of the Hudson, and begged assistance of 
the Dutch. Here the vindictive Kieft saw an opportunity of wholesale 
destruction. A comjiany of soldiers- set out secretly from Manhattan, 
crossed the river and discovered the lair of the Indians. The place was 
surrounded by r.ight, and the first notice of danger given to the savages 
was the roar of muskets. Nearly a hundred of the poor wretches were 
killed before dayda^\•n. Women who slu-ieked for pity were mangled to 
death, and children were thrown into the river. 

When it was known among the tribes that the Dutch, and not the 
Mohawks, were the authors of this outrage, tlie war \vas renewed with 
fury. The Indians were in a frenzj-. Dividing into small war-parties, 
they concealed themselves in the woods and swamps ; then rose, without a 
moment's warning, upon defenceless farmhouses, burning and butchering 
without mercv. At this time that noted woman Mrs. Anne Hutchinson 
was living with her son-in-law in the valley of the Housatonic. Her 
iiouse was surrounded and set on fire by the savages ; every member of 
ihe fiimily except one child wa.s cruelly murdered. Mrs. Hutchinson 
^wrself was burned alive. 



NEW YORK.— ADMINISTRATION OF STUYVESANT. 167 

In 1643, Captain John Underbill, a fugitive from Massachusetts, 
"was appointed to the command of the Dutch forces. At the head of a 
regiment raised by Governor Kieft he invaded New Jersey, and brought 
the Delawares into subjection. A decisive battle was fought on Long 
Island ; and at Greenwich, in Western Connecticut, the power of the In- 
dians was finally broken. Again the ambassadors of the Iroquois came 
forward with proposals for peace. Both parties were anxious to rest from 
the ruin and devastation of war. On the 30th of August, 1645, a treaty 
was concluded at Fort Amsterdam. 

Nearly all of the bloodshed and sorrow of these five years of war 
may be charged to Governor Kieft. He was a revengeful and cruel man, 
^vhose idea of government was to destroy whatever opposed him. The 
people had many times desired to make peace with the Indians, but the 
jjroject had always been defeated by the headstrong passions of the 
governor. A popular party, headed by the able De Vries, at last grew 
powerful enough to defy his authority. As soon as the war was ended, 
petitions for his removal were circulated and signed by the people. Two 
years after the treaty, the Dutch West India Company revoked his com- 
mission and appointed Peter Stuyvesant to succeed him. In 1647, Kieft 
embarked for Europe; but the heavy-laden merchantman in which he 
sailed was dashed to pieces by a storm on the coast of Wales, and the 
guilty governor of New Netherland found a grave in the sea. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

NEW YORK.— ADMINISTRATION OF STUYVESANT. 

ry"1HE honest and soldierly Petek STiri'VESANT was the last and 
J- greatest of the governors of New Netherland. He entered upon his 
duties on the 11th of May, 1647, and continued in office for more than 
seventeen years. His first care was to conciliate the Indians. By the 
Avisdom and liberality of his government the wayward red men were re- 
claimed from hostility and hatred. So intimate and cordial became the 
relations between the natives and the Dutch that they were suspected of 
making common cause against the Englisli ; even Massachusetts was 
alarmed lest such an alliance should be formed. But the policy of 
Governor Stuyvesant was based on nobler principles. 

Until now the West India Company had had exclusive control of 



I'aS HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the commerce of Xew Netherland. In the first year of tlie new adminis- 
tration this monopoly was abolished, and regular export duties were sub- 
stituted. The benefit of the change was at once apparent in the improve- 
ment of the Dutch province. In one of the letters written to Stuyvesant 
by the secretary of the company, the remarkable prediction is made that 
the commerce of New Amsterdam should cover every ocean and the ships 
of all nations crowd into her harbor. But for many years the growth of 
the city was slow. As late as the middle of the century, the better parts 
of ]Mauhattau Island were still divided among the farmers. Central Park 
was a forest of oaks and chestnuts. 

In 1660, a boundary-line was fixed between New England and New 
Netherland. The Dutch were fearful lest the English should reach the 
Hudson and cut off the fur-trade between Fort Orange and New Amster- 
dam. Governor Stuyvesant met the ambassadors of the Eastern colonies 
at Hartford, and after much discussion an eastern limit was set to the 
Dutch possessions. The line there established extended across Long 
Island north and south, passing through Oyster Bay, and thence to Green- 
wich, on the other side of the sound. From this point northward the 
dividing-line was nearly identical with the present boundary of Connec- 
ticut on the west. This treaty was ratified by the colonies, by the "West 
India Company and by the states-general of Holland; but the English 
government treated the matter with indiiference and contempt. 

Stuyvesant had less to fear from the colony of New Sweden. The 
people of New Netherland outnumbered the Swedes as ten to one, and 
the Dutch claim to the country of the Delaware had never been re- 
nounced. In 1G51, an armament left New Amsterdam, entered the bay 
and came to anchor at a point on the western shore five miles below the 
mouth of the Brandy wine. On the present site of New Castle, Fort Cas- 
imir was built and garrisoned with Dutch soldiers. This act was 
equivalent to a declaration of M'ar. The Swedish settlement of Christiana 
was almost in sight of the hostile fortress, and a conflict could hardly be 
avoided. Rising, the governor of the Swedes, looked on quietly until 
Fort Casimir was completed, then captured the place by stratagem, over- 
powered the garrison and hoisted the flag of Sweden. 

It was a short-lived triumph. The AVest India Company were 
secretly pleased that the Swedes had committed an act of open violence. 
Orders were at once issued to Stuyvesant to visit the Swedish colonists 
with vengeance, and to compel their submission or drive them from the 
Delaware. In September of 1055 the orders of the company were car- 
ried out to the letter. The old governor put himself at the head of more 
than six hundred troops — a number almost equal to the entire pojiulation 



i 



NEW YORK.— ADMINISTRATION OF STUYVESANT. 169 

of New Sweden — and sailed to Delaware Bay. Resistance was hopeless. 
The Dutch forces were landed at New Castle, and the Swedes gave way. 
Before the 2oth of the month every fort belonging to the colony had been 
forced to capitulate. Governor Rising Mas captured, but was treated with 
great respect. Honorable terms were granted to all, and in a few days 
the authority of New Netherland was established throughout the country. 
Except a few turbulent spirits who removed to JMaryluud and Virginia, 
the submission was univereal. After an existence of less than eighteen 
years, the little State of New Sweden had ceased to be. The xVmerican 
possessions and territorial claims of France, England, Holland, Sweden 
and Spain will be best understood from an examination of the accom- 
panying map, drawn for the year 1655. 

How hardly can the nature of savages be restrained ! While Gov- 
ernor Stuyvesant was absent on his expedition against the Swedes, the 
Algonquin tribes rose in rebellion. The poor creatures were going to 
take New Amsterdam. In a fleet of sixty-four canoes they appeared be- 
fore the town, yelling and dischai'ging arrows. What could their puny 
missiles do against the walls of a European fortress? After paddling 
about unfil their rage, but not their hate, was spent, the savages went on 
shore and Ijegan their old work of burning and murder. The return of 
the Dutch forces from the Delaware induced the sachems to sue for peace, 
which Stuyvesant granted on better terms than the Indians had deserved. 
The captives were ransomed, and the treacherous tribes were allowed to 
go with trifling punishments. 

For eight years after the conquest of New Sweden the peace of New 
Netherland wa.s unbroken. In 1663 the natives of the county of Ulster, 
on the Hudson, broke out in war. The town of Esopus, now Kingston, 
Avas attacked and destroyed. Sixty-five of the inhabitants were eithei 
tomahawked or carried into captivity. To punish this outrage a .strong 
force was sent from New Amsterdam. The Indians fled, hoping to find 
refuge in the woods ; but the Dutch soldiers pursued them to their vil- 
lages, burned their wigwams and killed every warrior who could be over- 
taken. As winter came on, the humbled tribe began to beg for mercy. 
In December a truce was granted; and in May of the following year 
a treaty of peace was concluded. 

Governor Stuyvesant had great difficulty in defending his province 
beyond the Delaware. The queen of Sweden and her ministers at Stock- 
holm still looked fondly to their little American colony, and cherished 
the hope of recovering the conquered territory. A more dangerous com- 
petitor was found in Lord Baltimore, of Maryland, whose patent, given 
under the great seal of England, covered all the territory between the 



i'i^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Chesapeake and Delaware Bay, as far north as the latitude of Phila- 
delphia. Berkeley, of Virginia, also claimed New Sweden as a part of 
his dominions. Connecticut pushed her settlements westward on Long 
Island, and jiurchased all the remaining Indian claims between her 
western frontier and tiie Hudson. Massaohasetts boldly declared her in- 
tention to extend her boundaries to Fort Orange. The indignant Stuy- 
vesant asked the agents of Connecticut M'here the province of Ne\v 
Nctherland could shortly be found ; and the agents coolly answered that 
they did not knoiii. 

Discord at home added to the governor's embarrassments. For 
many years the Dutch had witnessed the growth and prosperity of the 
English colonies. Boston had outgrown New Amsterdam. The schools 
of Massachusetts and Connecticut flourished ; the academy on Man- 
hattan, after a sickly career of two years, Mas discontinued. In New 
Nctherland heavy taxes were levied for the support of the poor ; New 
England had no poor. Liberty and right were the subjects of debate in 
every English village ; to the Dutch farmers aud traders such words had 
little meaniug. The people of New Netherland grew enmlous of the 
progress of their jiowerful neighbors, and attributed their own abasement 
to the mismanagement and selfish greed of the West India Company. 
Without actual disloyalty to Holland, the Dutch came to prefer the laws 
and customs of England. Under these accumulating troubles the faithful 
Stuyvesant was wellnigh overwhelmed. 

Such was the condition of afiairs at the beginning of 1664. Eng- 
land and Holland were at peace. Neither nation had reason to appre- 
hend an act of violence from the other. In all that followed, the arbi- 
trary principles and unscrupulous disposition of the English king were 
fully manifested. On the 12th of March in this year the duke of York 
received at the hands of his brother, Charles II., two extensive patents 
for American territory. The first grant included the district reaching 
from the Kennebec to the St. Croix River, and the second embraced the 
^vhole country between the Connecticut and the Delaware. Without iv- 
-ard to the rights of Holland, in utter contempt of the West India Com- 
pany, through whose exertions the valley of the Hudson had been peojiled, 
with no respect for the wishes of the Dutch, or even for the voice of his 
own Parliament, the English monarch in one rash hour despoiled a sister 
kingdom of a well-earned province. 

The duke of York made haste to secure hLs territory. No time 
must be left for the states-general to jirotest against the outrage. An 
English squadron was immediately equipped, put under command of 
Richard Nicolls and sent to America. In July the armament reached 



XEW YORK.—ADMmiSTRATION OF STUYVESANT. 171 



Boston, and thence proceeded against New Amsterdam. On the 28th of 
August, the fleet passed the Narrows, and anchored at Gravesend Bay. 
Tlie EnglLsli camp was pitched at Brooklyn Ferry ; and before the Dutch 
had recovered from their surprise, the whole of Long Island was sub- 
dued. An embassy came over from New Amsterdam. Governor Stuy- 
vesant, ever true to his employers, demanded to know the meaning of all 
this hostile array. To 
receive the surrender 
of New Netherland 
was the quiet answer 
of Nicolls. There 
must be an immediate 
acknowledgment of the 
sovereignty of Eng- 
land. Those who sub- 
mitted should have the 
rights of Englishmen ; 
those who refused 
should liear the crash 
of cannon-balls. The 
Dutch council of New 
Amsterdam Avas im- 
mediately convened. 
It Avas clear that the 
burgomasters meant to 
em-render. The stormy 
old governor exhorted 

them to rouse to action and fight; some one replied that, the Dutch 
West India Company wa.s not worth fighting for. Burning with indig- 
nation, Stuyvesant snatched up the written proposal of Nicolls and tore 
it to tattei-s in the presence of his council. It was all in vain. The 
brave old man was forced to sign the capitulation ; and on the 8th of 
September, 1664, New Netherland ceased to exist. The English flag 
was hoisted over the fort and town, and the name of New York was 
substituted for New Amsterdam. The surrender of Fort Orange, now 
named Albany, followed on the 24th; and on the 1st of October the 
Swedish and Dutch settlements on the Delaware capitulated. The con- 
quest was complete. The supremacy of Great Britain in America was 
finally established. From the north-east corner of Maine to the southern 
limits of Georgia, every mile of the American coast was under the flag 
of Eng-land. 




FK.TER STOliVESANT. 



172 MlSTOIiY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XX. 

^^FW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. 

piCHARD XICOLLS, tlie first English governor of New York, 
J-Xj begun liis duties by settling the boundaries of his province. It was 
a work full of trouble and vexation. As early as 1623 the whole of Long 
Island had been granted to the earl of Stirling. Connecticut also claimed 
and occupied all that part of the island included in the present county of 
Suffolk. Against both of these claimants the patent of the duke of York 
was now to be enforced by liis deputy Nicolls. The claim of Stirling was 
fairly purchased by the governor, but the pretensions of Connecticut were 
arbitrarily set aside. This action was the source of so much discontent 
that the duke was constrained to compensate Connecticut by making a 
favorable change in her south-west boundary-line. 

Two months before the conquest of New Netherland by the Eng- 
lish, the irregular territory between the Hudson and the Delaware, as far 
north as a point on the latter river in tlie latitude of forty-one degrees 
and forty minutes, was granted to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. 
This district, corresponding, except on the northern boundary, with tiie 
present State of New Jersey, was now wrested from the jurisdiction of 
New York, and a separate government established by the proprietors. 
The country below the Delaware, until recently called New Sweden, but 
now named The Territories, was consolidated with New York and 
ruled by deputies appointed by the governors of that province. Finally, 
the new name conferred by Nicolls on his capital was extended to all 
die country formerly called New Netherland. 

At the first the people were deluded with many promises of civil 
liberty. To secure this, tiie Dutcli, against the passionate appeals of the 
patriotic Stuyvesant, had voluntarily surrendered themselves to the Eng- 
lish government. But it was a poor sort of civil liberty that any province 
was likely to obtain from one of the Stuart kings of England. Tlie 
promised right of representation in a general assembly of the people was 
evaded and Avithheld. To this was added a greater grief in the annulling 
of the old titles by which, for half a century, the Dutch farmers had iiekl 
Uieu' lauds. The jieople were obliged to accept new deeds at the hands 



NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. 173 

of the English governor, and to pay him tlierefor such sums as yielded an 
immense revenue. The evil done to the province, ho\ve\-er, was less than 
might have been expected from so arbitrarj'^ and despotic a government. 

In 1667, Nicolls was superseded by Lovelace. With less ability 
and generosity than his predecessor, he proved a greater tyrant. The bad 
principles of the system established by the duke of York were now fully 
developed. The people became dissatisfied and gloomy. Protests against 
the government and petitions for redres.'? were constantly presented, and 
constantly rejected with contempt. The discontent was universal. The 
towns of Southold, Southampton and Easthampton resisted the tax- 
gatherers. The people of Huntington voted that they were robbed of the 
privileges of Englishmen. The villagers of Jamaica, Flushing and Hemp- 
stead passed a resolution that the governor's decree of taxation was contrary 
to the laws «£ the English nation. The only attention which Lovelace 
and his council paid to these resolutions was to declare them scandalous, . 
illegal and seditious, and to order them to be publicly burnt before the 
town-house of New York. When the Swedes, naturally a quiet and 
submissive jjeople, I'esisted the exactions of the government, they were 
visited with additional severity. " If there is any more murmuring against 
the taxes, make them so heavy that the people can do nothing l)ut think 
how to pay them," said Lovelace in his instructions to his deputy. 

The Dutch and the English colonists were always friends. Not 
once in the whole history of the country did they lift the sword against 
each other. Even while England and Holland were at war, as they were 
in 1652-54, the American subjects of the two nations remained at peace. 
Another war followed that act of violence by which, in 1664, the duke 
of York possessed himself of New Netherland ; but the conflict did not 
extend to America. A third time, in 1672, Charles II. was induced by 
the king of France to begin a contest with the Dutch government. This 
time, indeed, the struggle extended to the colonics, and New York was 
revolutionized, but not by the action of her own people. In 1673 a small 
squadron was fitted out by Holland and placed under command of the 
gallant Captain Evertsen. The fleet sailed for America, and arrived be- 
fore Manhattan on the 30th of July. The governor of New York was 
absent, and Manning, the deputy-governor, was a coward. The defences 
of the city were dilapidated, and the peojilo refused to strengthen them. 
Within four hours after the arrival of the squadron the fort was sur- 
rendered. The city capitulated, and the whole province yielded ■\\athout 
a struggle. New Jersey and Delaware sent in their submission ; the 
name of New Netherland was revived ; and the authority of Hodaud was 
restored from Connecticut to Maryland. 



174 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The reconquest of New York by tlie Dutch was only a brief mili- 
tary occupation of the country. The civil authority of Holland was never 
reestablished. In 1674, Charles II. was obliged by his Parliament to 
conclude a treaty of peace. There was the usual clause requiring the 
restoration of all conquests made during the war. New York reverted 
to the English government, and the rights of the duke were again recog- 
nized in the province. To make his authority doubly secure for tlie 
future, he obtained from his brother, the king, a new j)atent confirming 
the provisions of the former charter. The man who now recei\ed the 
appointment of deputy-governor of New York was none other than Sir 
Edmund ^Vndros. On the last day of October the Dutch forces were 
finally withdrawn, and Andros assumed the government. 

It was a sad sort of government for the people. The worst prac- 
tices of Lovelace's administration were revived. The princii)les of arbi- 
trary rule were openly avowed. Taxes were levied without authority of 
law, and the appeals and protests of the people were treated with derision. 
The clamor for a popular legislative assembly had become so great that 
Andros was on the point of yielding. He even wrote a letter to the duke 
of York advising that thick-headed prince to grant the people the right 
of electing a colonial legislature. The duke replied that popular assem- 
blies were seditious and dangerous ; that they only fostered discontent and 
disturbed the peace of the government ; and finally, that he did not see 
any iise for them. To the people of New York the civil liberty of the 
New England colonics seemed farther oflp than ever. 

By the terms of his grant the duke of York claimed jurisdiction 
over all the territory between the Connecticut River and Maryland. To 
assert and maintain this claim of his master was a part of the deputy- 
governor's business in America. The first effort to extend the duke's 
territorial rights to the limits of his charter Avas made in July of 1675. 
With some armed sloops and a company of soldiers, Andros proceeded to 
the mouth of the Connecticut in the hope of establishing his jurisdiction. 
The general assembly of the colony had heard of his coming, and had 
sent word to Captain Bull, who commanded the fort at Saybrook, to re- 
sist Andros in the name of the king. When the latter came in sight and 
hoisted the flag of England, the same colors were raised within the fortress. 
The royal governor was permitted to land ; but when he began to read 
his commission, he was ordered in the king's name to desist. Overawed 
by the threatening looks of the Saybrook militia, Andros retired to his 
boats and set sail for Long Island. 

Notwithstanding the grant of New Jersey to Carteret and Berkeley, 
the attempt was now made to extend the jurisdiction of New York over 



1 



NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. 17r> 

the lower province. Andros issued a decree that ships sailing to and 
from the ports of New Jersey should pay a duty at the custom-house 
of New York. This tyrannical action was openly resisted. Andros 
attempted to frighten the assembly of New Jersey into submission, and 
2)roceeded so far as to arrest Philip Carteret, the deputy-governor. But 
it was all of no use. The representatives of the ^jeople declared them^ 
selves to be under the protection of the Great Charter, which not even the 
duke of York, or his brother the king, could alter or annul. In August 
of 1682 the territories beyond the Delaware were granted by the duke to 
AV^illiam Penn. This little district, first settled by the Swedes, afterward 
conquered by the Dutch, then transferred to England on the conquest of 
New Netherland, was now finally separated from the jurisdiction of New 
York and joined to Pennsylvania. The governors of the latter province 
continued to exercise authority over the three counties on the Delaware 
until the American Revolution. 

At the close of Andros's administration, in 1683, Thomas Dongan, 
a Catholic, became governor of New York. For thirty years the people 
had been clamoring for a general assembly. Just before Andros left the 
province, the demand became more vehement than ever. The retiring 
governor, himself of a despotic disposition, counseled the duke to concede 
the right of representation to the people. At last James yielded, not so 
much with the view of extending popular rights, as with the hope of in- 
creasing his revenues from the improved condition of his province. 
Dongan, the new governor, came with full instructions to call an assem- 
bly of all the freeholders of New York, by whom certain persons of their 
own number should be elected to take part in the government. Seventy 
years had passed since the settlement of INIanhattan Island ; and now for 
the first time the people were permitted to choose their own rulers and to 
frame their own laws. 

The first act of the new assembly was to declare that the supreme 
legislative power of the province resided in the governor, the council and 
THE PEOPLE. All freeholders were granted the right of suffrage ; trial 
by jury was established; taxes should no more be levied except by con- 
sent of the assembly; soldiers should not be quartered on the people; 
martial law should not exist; no person accepting the general doctrines 
of religion should be in any wise distressed or persecuted. All the rights 
and privileges of Massachusetts and Virginia were carefully written by 
the zealous law-makers of New York in their first charter of liberties. 

In July of 1684 an important treaty was concluded at Albany. 
The governors of New York and Virginia were met in convention by the 
sachems of the Iroquois, and the terms of a lasting peace were settled 



176 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

A long war ensued between the Five Nations and tlie French. The 
Jesuits of Canada employed every artifice and intrigue to induce tlie 
Indians to In'cak tlieir treaty with the Englisli, but all to no purpose ; 
the alliance was faithfully observed. In 1(584, and again in 16S7, the 
French invaded the territory of the Iroquois; but the mightv Mohawks 
and Oneidas drove back their foes with loss and disaster. By the barrier 
of the friendly Five Nations on the north, the English and Dutch colo- 
nies were screened from danger. 

In 1685 the duke of York became kine; of Encland. It was soon 
found that even the monarch of a great nation could violate his pledges. 
King James became the open antagonist of the government which had 
been established under his own directions. The poj^ular legislature of 
New York was abrogated. An odious tax was levied by an arbitrary 
decree. Printing-presses Avere forbidden in the province. All the old 
abuses were revived and made a juiljlic l)oast. 

In December of 1686, Edmund Andros became governor of all 
New England. It was a j)art of his plan to extend his dominion over 
New York and New Jersey. To the former jirovince, Francis Nicholson, 
the lieutenant-general of Andros, was sent as deputy. Dougau was super- 
seded, and until the English Revolution of 1688, New York was ruled 
as a dependency of New England. When the news of that event and of 
the accession of William of Orange reached the province, there was a 
general tunuilt of rejoicing. The people rose in rebellion against the 
government of Nicliolson, who was glad enough to escape from New 
York and return to England. 

The leader of the insurrection was Jacob Leisler, a captain of the 
militia. A committee often took upon themselves the task of reorganizing 
the government. Leisler was commissioned to take possession of the fort 
of New York. Most of the troops in the city, together with five hundred 
volunteers, proceeded against the fort, which was surrendered without a 
struggle. The insurgents published a declaration in which they avowed 
their loyalty to the prince of Orange, their coiuitryman, and expressed 
their determination to yield immediate obedience to his authority. A 
jirovisional government \\as organized, with Leisler at the head. The 
provincial councilors, who were friends and adherents of the dejjoscd 
Nicholson, left the city and repaired to Albany. Here the party who 
were opposed to the usurpation of Leisler jiroceeded to organize a second 
provisional government. Both factions were careful to exercise authority 
in the name of "William and INIary, the new sovereigns of England. 

In September of 1689, Milborne, the son-in-law of Leisler, was 
sent to Albany to demand the surrender of the town and fort. Court- 



NEW YORK UXDER THE EXGLISH. 177 

laud and Bayard, mIio were the leadei-s of tlie northern faction, oppu.sed 
the demand with so much vigor that Milborne was obliged to retire with- 
out accomplishing his object. Such was the condition of aifairs at the 
beginning of King William's War. How the village of Schenectady was 
destroyed by the French and Indians, and how an unsuccessful expedition 
by land and water was planned against Quebec and Montreal, has been 
narrated in the history of Massachusetts. Such M'as the dispiriting etfect 
of these disasters upon the people of Albany and the north that a second 
effort made by Milborne against the government of the opposing faction 
was successful ; and in the spring of 1690 the authority of Leisler as tem- 
porary governor of New York was recognized throughout the province. 
The summer was spent in fruitless preparations to invade and conquer 
Canada. The general assembly was convened at the capital ; but little 
was accomplished except a formal recognition of the insurrectionary 
government of Leisler. 

In January of 1691, Richard Ingoldsby arrived at New York. 
He bore a commission as captain, and brought the intelligence that Colo- 
nel Sloughter had been appointed royal governor of the province. Leisler 
received Ingoldsby with courtesy, and offered him quarters in the city ; 
but the latter, without authority from either the king or the governor, 
haughtily demanded tlie surrender of His Majesty's fort. Leisler refiised 
to yield, but expressed his willingness to submit to any one who bore 
a commission from King William or Colonel Sloughter. On the 19th 
of March the governor himself arrived ; and Leisler on the same day 
despatched messengers, tendering his service and submission. Tlie mes- 
sengers were arrested, and Ingoldsby, the enemy and rival of Leisler, was 
sent with verbal orders for the surrender of the fort. Leisler foresaw liis 
doom, and hesitated. He wrote a letter to Sloughter, expressing a desire 
to make a personal surrender of the post to the governor. The letter was 
unanswered ; Ingoldsby pressed his demand ; Leisler wavered, capitu- 
lated, and with Milborne was seized and hurried to prison. 

As soon as the royal government was organized the two prisoners 
were brought to trial. The charge was rebellion and treason. Dudley, 
the chief-justice of New England, rendered a decision that Leisler had 
been a usurper. The prisoners refused to plead, were convicted and sen- 
tenced to death. Sloughter, however, determined to know the pleasure 
of the king before putting the sentence into execution. But the royalist 
assembly of New York had already come together, and the members were 
resolved that the prisoners should be hurried to their death. The governor 
was invited to a banquet ; and when heated with strong drink, the death- 
warrant was thrust before him for his signature. He succeeded in affix- 



178 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ing his name to tlie fatal parcliment ; and almost before the fumes of his 
drunken revel had passed away, his victims had met their fate. On tlie 
16th of May, Leisler and Milborne were brous;;ht from prison, led through 
a drenching rain to the scatibld and hanged. Within less than a year 
afterward, their estates, which had been confiscated, were restored to their 
heirs; and in 1695 the attainder of the families was removed. 

The same summer that witnessed the execution of Leisle,'' ana 
Milborne was noted for the renewal of the treaty with the Iroquois. At 
Albany, Governor Slough ter met the sachems of the Five Nations, and 
the former terms of fidelity and friendship were reaffirmed. In the fol- 
lowing year the valiant Major Schuyler, at the hezA of the New York 
militia, joined a war-party of the Iroquois ''n a successful exjjedition 
against the French settlements beyond Lake Champlain. Mcanwliile, 
the a.ssembly of the province had been in session at the capital. Although 
the representatives were royalists, a resolution was passed against arbitrary 
taxation, and another which declared the people to be a part of the govern- 
ing power of the colony. It was not long until one of the governors had 
occasion to say that the people of New York were growing altogether too 
big with the privileges of Englishmen. 

Soon after his return from Albany, Sloughter's career was cut 
short by death. He was succeeded in the office of governor by Benjamin 
Fletcher, a man of bad passions and poor abilities. The new executive 
arrived in September of 1692. One of the fii-st measures of his adminis- 
tration was to renew the recent treaty with the Iroquois. It was at this 
time the avowed purpose of the English monarch to place under a com- 
mon government all the territory between the Connecticut River and 
Delaware Bay. To further this project, Fletcher was armed with an 
anqile and comprehensive commission. He was made governor of New 
York, and commander-in-chief not only of the troops of his own jH'Ovince, 
but also of the militia of Connecticut and New Jersey. In the latter 
province he met with little opposition ; but the Puritans of Hartford re- 
sisted so stubbornly that the alarmed and disgusted governor was glad to 
return to his own capital. 

The next effort of the administration was to establish the Episcopal 
Church in New York. The Dutch and the English colonists of the 
province were still distinct in nationality ; the former, though Calvinists, 
were not unfriendly to the Episcopal service which the Puritans so 
heartily despised. In a religious controversy between Fletcher's council 
and the English, the Dutch, not being partisans of either, looked on with 
comparative indifference. But when the governor was on the point of 
succeeding with his measures, the general assembly interposed, passed a 



NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. 179 

decree of toleration, and brought the pretentious Church to a level with 
the rest. Fletcher gave vent to his indignation by calling his legislators 
a set of unmannerly and insubordinate boors. 

In 1696 the territory of New York was invaded by the French 
under Frontenac, governor of Canada. The faithful Iroquois made com- 
mon cause with the colonial forces, and the formidable expedition of the 
French was turned into confusion. Before the loss could be repaired 
and a second invasion undertaken. King William's War was ended by the 
treaty of Ryswick. In the following year, the earl of Bellomont, an 
Irish nobleman of excellent character and popular sympathies, succeeded 
Fletcher in the government of New York. His administration of less 
than four years was the happiest era in the history of the colony. His 
authority, like that of his predecessor, extended over a part of New Eng- 
land. Massachusetts and New Hampshire were under his jurisdiction, 
but Connecticut and Rhode Island remained independent. To this period 
belong the exploits of the famous pirate. Captain William Kidd. 

For centuries piracy had been the common vice of the high seas. 
The nations were just now beginning to take active measures for the sup- 
pression of the atrocious crime. The honest and humane Bellomont was 
one who was anxious to see the end of piratical violence. His commission 
contained a clause which authorized the arming of a vessel to range the 
ocean in pursuit of pirates. The ship was to bear the English flag, and 
was also commissioned as a priv^ateer to prey upon the commerce of the 
enemies of England. The vessel was owned by a company of distin- 
guished and honorable persons ; Governor Bellomont himself M'as one of 
the proprietors ; and William Kidd received from the English admiralty 
a commission as captain. The ship sailed from England before Bello- 
mont's departure for New York. Hardly had the earl reached his 
province when the news came that Kidd himself had turned jiirate and 
become the terror of the seas. For two years he continued his infamous 
career, then appeared publicly in the streets of Boston, was seized, sent 
to England, tried, convicted and hanged. What disposition was made 
of the enormous treasures which the pirate-ship had gathered on the ocean 
has never been ascertained. It has been thought that the vast hoard of 
ill-gotten wealth was buried in the sands of Long Island. Governor 
Bellomont was charged with having shared the booty, but an in- 
vestigation before the House of Commons showed the accusation to be 
groundless. 

In striking contrast with the virtues and msdom of Bellomont 
were the vices and folly of Lord Cornlxiry, who succeeded him. He 
arrived at New York in the beginning of May, 1702. A month 



180 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

previously the proprietors of New Jereey had surrendered their rights 
in the }>rovince to the English Crown. All obstacles being thus removed, 
the two colonies were formally united in one government under the 
authority of Cornbury. For a period of thirty-six yeai-s tiie territories, 
though with separate assemblies, continued under the jurisdiction of a 
single executive. 

One of Cornbury's first acts was to forge a clause in his own com- 
mission. Desiring to foster the Established Church, and finding nothing 
to that effect in his instructions, he made instructions for himself At 
first the people received him with great favor. The assembly voted two 
thousand pounds sterling to compensate him for the expenses of his 
voyage. In order to improve and fortify the Narrows, an additional sum 
of fifteen hundred pounds was granted. The money was taken out of the 
treasury, but no improvement was visible at the Narrows. The repre- 
sentatives modestly inquired what had become of their revenues. Lord 
Cornbury replied that the assembly of New York had no right to ask 
questions until the queen should give them jJt'i'uiission. The old and 
oft-rej>eated conflict between personal despotism and popular liberty broke 
out anew. The people of the province were still divided on the subject 
of Leisler's insurrection. Cornbuiy became a violent partisan, favoring 
the enemies and pei-secuting tlie friends of that unfortunate leader ; and so 
from year to year matters grew constantly worse, until between the gov- 
ernor and his people there existed no relation but that of mutual hatred. 

In 1708 the civil dissensions of the province reached a climax. 
Each succeeding assembly resisted more stubbornly the measures of the 
governor. Time and again the people petitioned for his removal. The 
councilors selected their own treasurer, refusal to vote appropriations, 
and curtailed Cornbury's revenues until he was impoverished and ruined. 
Then came Lord Lovelace with a commission from Queen Anne, and the 
passionate, MTetched governor was unceremoniously turned out of office. 
Left to the mercy of his injured subjects, they arrested him for debt and 
threw him into prison, where he lay until, by his father's death, he be- 
came a peer of England and could bo no longer held in confinement. 

During the progress of Queen Anne's War the troops of New York 
cooperated with the army and navy of New England. Eighteen hun- 
dred volunteei-s from the Hudson and the Delaware composed the land 
forces in the unsuccessful expedition against IMoutreal in the winter of 
1709-10. The provincial army proceeded as far as South River, east 
of Lake George. Here information was received that the English fleet 
which was expected to cooperate in the reduction of Quebec had been 
sent to Portugal; the armament of New England was insufficient of 



NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. 181 

itself to attempt the conquest of the Canadian stronghold ; and tlie troops 
of New York and New Jersey were obliged to retreat. Again, in 1711, 
when the incompetent Sir Hovenden Walker was pretending to conduct 
his fleet up the St. Lawrence, and was in reality only anxious to get 
away, the army which was to invade Canada by land was furnished by 
New York. A second time the provincial forces reached Lake George ; 
but the dispiriting news of the disaster to Walker's fleet destroyed all 
hope of succeas, and the discouraged soldiers returned to their homes. 

Failure and disgrace were not the only distressing circumstances 
of these campaigns ; a heavy debt remained to ovei-shadow the prosperity 
of New York and to consume her revenues. For many years the re- 
sources of the province were exhausted in meeting the extraordinary 
expenses of Queen Anne's war. In 1713 the treaty of Utrecht put an 
end to the conflict, and peace returned to the American colonies. In this 
year the Tuscaroras of Carolina — a nation of the same race with the Iro- 
quois and Hui'ons of the North — were defeated and driven from their 
homes by the Southern colonists. The haughty tribe marched north- 
ward, crossed the middle colonies and joined their warlike kinsmen on 
the St. Lawrence, making the sixth nation in the Iroquois confederacy. 
Nine years later a great council was held at Albany. There the grand 
sachems of the Six Nations were met by the governors of New York, 
Pennsylvania and Virginia. An important commercial treaty was 
formed, by which the extensive and profitable fur-trade of the Indians, 
Avhich, until now, had been engrossed by the French, was diverted to the 
English. In order to secure the full benefits of this arrangement, Governor 
Burnett of New York hastened to establish a trading-post at Oswego, on 
the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Five years later a substantial fort 
was built at the same place and furnished with an English garrison. As 
late as the middle of the century, Oswego continued to be the only forti- 
fied outpost of the English in the entire country drained by the St. Law- 
rence and its tributaries. The French, meanwhile, had built a strong fort 
at Niagara, and another at Crown Point, on tlie western shore of Lake 
Champl lin. The struggle for colonial supremacy between the two nations 
was already beginning. 

The administration of Governor Cosby, who succeeded Burnett in 
1732, was a stormy epoch in the history of the colony. The people were 
in a constant struggle with the royal governors. At this time the contest 
took the form of a dispute about the freedom of the press. The liberal 
or democratic party of the province held that a public journal might criti- 
cise the acts of the administration and publish views distasteful to the 
sfovernment. The aristocratic party opposed such liberty as a dangerous 



182 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

license, which, if permitted, would soon sap the foundations of all au- 
thority. Zenger, an editor of one of the liberal noMspapcrs, jiublished 
hostile criticisms on the policy of the governor, was seized and put in 
prison. Great excitement ensued. The people were clamorous for their 
champion. Andrew Hamilton, a noted lawyer of Philadelphia, went to 
New York to defend Zenger, who was brought to trial in July of 1 735. 
The charge was libel against the government ; the cause was ably argued, 
and the jury made haste to bring in a verdict of acquittal. The aldermen 
of the city of New York, in order to testify their appreciation of Hamil- 
ton's services in the cause of liberty, made him a jirescnt of an elegant 
gold box, and the jieople were wild with enthusiasm over their victory. 

New York, like Massachusetts, was once visited with a fatal delu- 
sion. In the year 1741 occurred what is kno^^•n as the Negro Plot. 
Slavery was permitted in the province, and negroes constituted a large 
fraction of the population. Several destructive fires had occurred, and it 
was believed that they had been kindled by incendiaries. The slaves 
were naturally distrusted ; now they became feared and hated. Some 
degraded women came forward and gave information that the negroes 
had made a plot to burn the cit}', kill all who opposed them, and set up 
one of their own number as governor. The whole story was the essence 
of absurdity ; but the people were alarmed, and were ready to believe 
anything. The reward of freedom was offered to any slave who would 
reveal the plot. Many witnesses rushed forward with foolish and contra- 
dictory stories; the jails were filled with the accused; and more than 
thirty of the miserable creatures, with hardly the form of a trial, were 
convicted and then hanged or burned to death. Others ^\cre transj>orted 
and sold as slaves in foreign lands. As soon as the supposed peril had 
passed and the excited people regained their senses, it came to be doubted 
whether the whole shocking affair had not been the result of terror and 
fanaticism. The verdict of after times has been that tha-e was no plot 
at all. 

During the progress of King George's War the territory of New 
York was several times invaded by the French and Indians. But the 
invasions Avere feeble and easily repelled. Except the abandonment of a 
few villages in the northern part of the State and the destruction of a 
small amount of exjiosed property, little harm Mas done to the province. 
The alliance of the fierce Mohawks with the English always made the in- 
vasion of New York by the French an exploit of more danger than j)rofil. 
The treaty of Aix-la-Chapellc, concluded in 1748, again brotight peace 
and prosperity to the people. 

Notwithstanding the central position of New York, iier growth 



NEW YORK' UXDER THE ENGLISH. IS.] 

■was slow, her development unsteady, and her prospects darkened with 
much adversity. In population she stood, at the outbreak of the 
French and Indian war, but xiiih in a list of the colonies. Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia had all 
outstripped her in the race. But the elements of future renown were 
nowhere else more abundantly bestowed. Here at the foot of her 
principal city lay the most convenient and commodious harbor on the 
Atlantic. A magnificent river — draining the country as far as where, 
at Onondaga, burned the great council-fire of»the Six Nations — rolled 
<lown through fruitful valleys to join the waters of the bay. Best of 
all, the people who inhabited the noble province were ever ready to 
resist oppression, bold to defend their rights, and zealous in the cause 
of freedom. 

Such is the history of the little colony planted on Manhattan 
Island. A hundred and thirty yeai-s have passed since the first feeble 
settlements were made ; now tlie great valley of the Hudson is filled with 
beautiful farms and teeming villages. The Walloons of Flanders and 
the Puritans of New England have blended into a common people. Dis- 
cord and contention, though bitter while they lasted, have borne only the 
peaceful fruit of colonial liberty. There are other and greater struggles 
through which New York must pass, other burdens to be borne, other 
calamities to be endured, other fires in which her sons must be tried and 
purified, before they gain their freedom. But the oldest and greatest of 
the middle colonies has entered upon a glorious career, and the ample 
foundations of an Empire State are securely laid. 



COLONIAL HLSTORY.— Continued. 

MINOR EASTERN COLONIES. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

CONNECTICUT. 

THE history of Connecticut begins with the year 1630. The first 
grant of the territory was made by the council of Plymouth to the 
earl of Warwick ; and in March of 1631 tlie claim was transferred by 
him to Lord Say-and-Seal, Lord Brooke, .John Hampden and others. 
Before a colony could be planted by the proprietoi-s, the Dutch of New 
Netherland reached the Connecticut River and built at Hartford their 
fort, called the House of Good Hope. The people of New Plymouth 
immediately organized and sent out a force to counteract this movement 
of their rivals. The territorial claim of the Puritans extended not only 
over Connecticut, but over New Netherland itself and onward to the 
west. Should the intruding Dutch colonists of Manhattan be allowed 
to move eastward and take possession of the finest valley in New Eng- 
land? Certainly not. 

The English expedition reached the month of the Connecticut and 
sailed up the river. When the little squadron came opposite the House 
of Good Hope, the commander of the garrison ordered Captain Holmes, 
the English otiicer, to strike his colors; but the order was treated 
with derision. The Dutch threatened to fire in case the fleet should attempt 
to pass; but the English defiantly hoisted sailsand proceeded up the river. 
The puny cannons of the House of Good Hope remained cold and silent. 
At a point just below the mouth of the Farmington, seven miles abuve 
Hartford, the Puritans landed and built the block-house of Windsor. 

In October of 1635 a colony of sixty persons left Boston, traversed 
the forests of Central MassacluLsetts, and settled at Hartford, Windsor 
and Wethersfield. Earlier in the same year the younger Winthrop, a 
man who in all the virtues of a noble life was a worthy rival of his 

ilS4) 




KO(iER WILLIAMS OPPOSING THE PEQUOT EMISSARIES. 



CONNECTICUT. 185 

father, the governor of Massachusetts, arrived in New England. He 
bore a commission from the proprietors of the Western colony to build a 
fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River, and to jirevent the further 
encroachme'its of the Dutch. The fortress was hastily completed and 
the guns mounted just in time to prevent the entrance of a Dutch 
trading-vessel which appeared at the mouth of the river. Such was the 
founding of Saybrook, so named in honor of the proprietors, Lords Say- 
and-Seal and Brooke. Thus was the most important river of New Eng- 
land brought under the dominion of the Puritans; the solitary Dutch 
settlement at Hartford was cut off from f^uccor and left to dwindle into 
insignificance. 

To the early annals of Connecticut belongs the sad story of the 
Pequod War. The country west of the Thames was more thickly 
peopled with savages than any other ]iortion of New England. The 
haughty and warlike Pequods were alone able to muster seven hundred 
warriors. The whole cflective force of the English colonists did not 
amount to two hundred men. But the superior numbers of the cunning 
and revengeful savages were more than balanced by the unflinching 
courage and destructive weapons of the English. 

The first act of violence was committed in the year 1633. The 
crew of a small trading-vessel were ambushed and murdered on the banks 
of the Connecticut. An Indian embassy went to Boston to apologize for 
the crime ; the nation was forgiven and received in friendship. A treaty 
was patched up, the Pequods acknowledging the supremacy of the Eng- 
lish and promising to become civilized. The Narragansetts, the heredi- 
tary enemies of the Pequods, had already yielded to the authority of 
Massachusetts and promised obedience to her laws. A reconciliation was 
thus effected between the two hostile races of savages. But as soon as the 
Pequods were freed from their old fear of the Narragansetts, they began 
to violate their recent treaty with the English. Oldham, the worthy 
captain of a trading-vessel, was murdered near Block Island. A com- 
pany of militia pursued the perpetrators of the outrage and gave them 
a bloody punishment. All the slumbering hatred and suppressed rage 
of the nation burst forth, and the war began in earnest. 

In this juncture of affairs the Pefjuods attempted a piece of danger- 
ous diplomacy. A persistent effort was made to induce the Narragansetts 
and the Mohegans to join in a war of extermination against the English ; 
and the plot was wellnigh successful. But the heroic Roger Williams, 
faithi'ul in his misfortunes, sent a letter to Sir Henry Vane, governor of 
Massachusetts, warned him of the impending danger, and volunteered his 
fiervices to defeat the conspiracy. The governor replied, urging Williams 



186 HISTORY' OF THE UNITED STATES. 

to use liis utmost endeavors to thwart the threatened alHance. Embark- 
ino- alone in a frail canoe, the exile left Providence, which he had fijuuded 
only a month before, and drifted out into Narragansett Bay. Every mo- 
ment it seemed that the poor little boat with its lonely passenger would be 
swallowed up ; but his courage and skill as an oarsman at last brought 
him to the shore in safety. Proceeding at once to the house of Canonicas, 
king of tlie Narragansett^, he found the painted and bloody ambassadors 
of the Pequods already there. For three days and nights, at the deadly 
peril of his life, he pleaded with Canonicus and Miantonomoh to reject 
the proposals of the hostile tribe, and to stand fast in their, allegiance to 
the English. His noble efforts were successful ; the wavering Xarra- 
gansetts voted to remain at peace, and the disappointed Pequod chiefs 
were sent away. 

The Mohegaus also rejected the proposed alliance. Uncas, the 
sachem of that nation, not only remained faithful to the whites, but fur- 
nished a party of warriors to aid them against the Pequods. In the 
meantime, repeated acts of violence had roased the colony to vengeance. 
During the winter of 1636-37 many murders were committed in the 
neighborhood of Saybrook. In the following April a massacre occurred 
at Wethersfield, in which nine persons were butchered. On the 1st day 
of May tlie three towns of Connecticut declared war. Sixty gallant volun- 
teers — one-third of the whole effective force of the colony — were put under 
command of Captain John Mason of Hartford. Seventy Mohegans joined 
the expedition ; and the thoughtful Sir Henry Vane sent Captain Under- 
bill with twenty soldiers from Boston. 

The descent from Hartford to Saybrook occupied one day. On the 
20th of the month the expedition, sailing ea.stward, passed the mouth of 
the Thames ; here was the principal seat of the Pequod nation. When 
the savages saw the squadron go by without attempting to land, they set 
up shouts of exultation, and persuaded themselves that the English were 
afraid to hazard battle. But the poor natives had sadly mistaken the 
men with whom they had to deal. The fleet proceeded (juietly into 
Narragansett Bay and anchored in the harbor of Wickford. Here the 
troops landed and began their march into the country of the Pequods. 
After one day's advance, Mason reached the cabin of Canonicus and 
Miantonomoh, sachems of the Narragansetts. Them he attempted to 
persuade to join him against the common enemy ; but the wary chieftains, 
knowing the prowess of the Pequods, and fearing that the English might 
be defeated, decided to remain neutral. 

On the evening of the 25th of May the troops of Connecticut came 
within hearing of the Pequod fort. The unsuspecting warriors spent 



CONNECTICUT. 



187 




-1 t-^T^- 

h(?"' " 

ml 



SCENE OF THE PEQUOD WAR. 



their last night on earth in uproar and jubilee. At two o'clock in the 
morning the English soldiers rose suddenly I'rom their places of conceal- 
ment and rushed forward to the fort. A dog ran howling among the 
Avigwams, and the warriors sprang to 
arms, only to receive a deadly volley 
from the English muskets. The fear- 
less assailants leaped over the puny 
palisades and began the work of 
death ; but the savages rose on every 
side in such numbers that Mason's 
men were about to be overwhelmed. 
" Burn them ! burn them !" shouted 
the dauntless captain, seizing a flaming 
mat and running to the windward of 
the cabins. "Burn them!" resounded on every side; and in a few 
minutes the dry wigwams were one sheet of crackling flame. The Eng- 
lish and Mohegans hastily withdrew to the ramparts. The }'el]ing savages 
found themselves begirt with fire. They ran round and round like wild 
beasts in a burning circas. If one of the wretched creatures burst through 
the flames, it was only to meet certain death from a broadsword or a 
musket-ball. The destruction was complete and awful. Only seven 
warriors escaped ; seven others were made prisoners. Six hundred men, 
women and children j)erished, nearly all of them being roasted to death 
in a hideous heap. Before the rising of the sun the pride and glory of 
the Pequods had passed away for ever. Sassacus, the grand sachem of 
the tribe, escaped into the forest, fled for protection to the Mohawks, and 
was murdered. Two of the English soldiers were killed and twenty 
others wounded in the battle. 

In the early morning three hundred Pequods, the remnant of the 
nation, approached from a second fort in the neighborhood. They had 
heard the tumult of battle, and supposed their friends victorious. To their 
utter horror, they found their fortified town in ashes and nearly all their 
])roud tribe lying in one blackened pile of half-burnt flesh and bones. 
The savage warriors stamped the earth, yelled and tore their hair in 
desperate rage, and ran howling through the woods. Mason's men re- 
turned by way of New London to Saybrook, and thence to Hartford. 
New troops arrived from Massachusetts. The remnants of the hostile 
jiation were pursued into the swamps and thickets west of Saybrook. 
Every wigwam of the Pequods was burned, and every field laid waste. 
Tiie remaining two hundred panting fugitives were hunted to death oi 
captivity. The prisoners were distributed as servants among the Narra- 



188 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

gausetts and Mohcgans ; a few were sold as slaves. The first war between 
the English colonists and the natives had ended in the overthrow and 
destruction of one of the most powerful tribes of New England. For 
many years the other nations, when tempted to hostility, remembered the 
fate of the Petjuods. 

The final eaptui-e of the Pequod fugitives was made at Fairfield, 
on Long Island Sound, fifty miles south-west from Saybrook. The Eng- 
lish thus became better acquainted with the coast west of the mouth of 
the Connecticut. Some men of Boston were delighted with the beautiful 
plain between the Wallingford and West Rivers. Here they tarried over 
winter, building some cabins and exploring the country; such was the 
founding of New Haven. Shortly afterward, a Puritan colony from 
England, under the leadership of Theophilus Eaton and John Davenport, 
arrived at Boston. Hearing of the beauty of the country on the sound, 
the new immigrants again set sail, and about the middle of April reached 
New Haven. On the morning of the first Sabbath after their arrival the 
colonists assembled for worehip under a spreading oak ; and Davenport, 
their minister, preached a touching and appropriate sermon on The 
Temptation in the Wilderness. The next care was to make an 
honorable purchase of land from the Indians — a policy which was ever 
afterward faithfully adhered to by the colony. For the first year there 
was no government except a simple covenant, into which the settlers 
entered, that all would be obedient to the rules of Scripture. 

In June of 1639 the leading men of New Haven held a convention 
in a barn, and formally adopted the Bible as the constitution of the State. 
Everything was strictly conformed to the religious standard. The govern- 
ment was called the House of Wisdom, of which Eaton, Davenport and 
five others were the seven Pillars. None but church raembei"s were ad- 
mitted to the rights of citizenship. All offices M'ere to be filled by the 
votes of the freemen at an annual election. For twenty yeai-s consecu- 
tively, Mr. Eaton — first and greatest of the pillars — was chosen governor 
of the colony. Other settlers came, and pleasant villages sprang up on 
both shores of Long Island Sound. 

Civil government began in Connecticut in the year 1639. Until 
that time the Western colonies had been subject to Massachusetts, and 
had scarcely thought of independence. But when the soldiers of Hartford 
returned victorious from the Pequod war, the exulting people began to 
think of a separate commonwealth. If they could fight their own battles, 
could they not make their own laws? Delegates from the three towns 
came together at Hartford, and on the 14th of January a constitution was 
framed for the colony. The new instrument ^^•as one of the most simple 



CONNECTICUT. 189 

and liberal ever adopted. An oath of allegiance to the State was the 
only qualification of citizenship. No recognition of the English king or 
of any foreign authority was required. Diiferent religious opinions were 
alike tolerated and respected. All the officers of the colony were to be 
chosen by ballot at an annual election. The law-making power was 
vested in a general assembly, and the representatives were apportioned 
among the towns according to population. Neither Saybrook nor New 
Haven adopted this constitution, by which the other colonies in the valley 
of the Connecticut were united in a common government. 

In 1643, Connecticut became a member of the Union of New Eng- 
land. Into this confederacy New Haven Mas also admitted ; and in the 
next year Saybrook was purchased of George Fenwick, one of the pro- 
prietors, and permanently annexed to Connecticut. The anticipated diffi- 
culties with the Dutch of New Netherland had made the colonies of the 
West anxious for a closer union with Massachusetts. The fears of the 
people were not entirely quieted until 1650, when Governor Stuyvcsant 
met the commissionei-s of Connecticut at Hartford, and established the 
western boundary of the province. This measure promised peace; but in 
1651 war broke out between England and Holland, and notwithstanding 
the recent pledges of friendship. New England and New Netherland were 
wellnigh drawn into the conflict. Stuy\'esant was suspected of inciting 
the Indians against the English ; a declaration of war was proposed be- 
fore the delegates of the united colonies, and was only prevented from 
passing by the veto of Massachusetts. Left without support, Connecticut 
and New Haven next sought aid from Cromwell, who entered heartily 
into the project and sent out a fleet to co-operate with the colonists in the 
reduction of New Netherland. But while the western towns were busily 
preparing for war, the news of peace arrived, and hostilities were happily 
averted. 

On the restoration of monarch}- in England, Connecticut made 
haste to recognize King Charles as rightful sovereign. It was as much 
an act of sound policy as of loyal zeal. The people of the Connecticut 
valley were eager for a royal charter. They had conquered the Pequods ; 
they had bought the lands of the Mohegans ; they had purchased the 
claims of the earl of Warwick ; it only remained to secure all these 
acquisitions with a patent from the king. The infant republic selected 
its best and truest man, the scholarly younger Winthrop, and sent him 
as ambassador to London. He bore with him a charter which had been 
carefully prepared by the authorities of Hartford ; the problem was to 
induce the kins: to sign it. 

The aged Lord Say-and-Seal, for many years the friend and bene- 



190 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



factor of the colony, was now an important officer of the Crown. To him 
Winthrop delivered a letter, unfolded his plans and appealed for help ; 
and the appeal was not in vain. The earl of Manchester, lord chamber- 
lain to the king, was induced to lend his aid. Winthrop easily obtained 
an audience with the sovereign, and did not fail to show him a ring 
which Charles I. had given as a pledge of iriendship to Winthrop's 
ffrandfather. The little token so moved the wayward monarch's feehngi 

that in a moment 
of careless mag- 
nanimity he signed 
the colonial charter 
without the alter- 
ation of a letter. 
Winthrop returned 
to the rejoicing col- 
ony, bearing a pat- 
ent the most liberal 
and ample ever 
granted by an Eng- 
lish monarch. The 
power of govern- 
ing themselves was 
conferred on the 
people without 
(jualification or re- 
striction. Every 
right of sovereign- 
ty and of inde- 
pendence, except 
the name, was con- 
ceded to the new State. The territory included under the charter ex- 
tended from the bay and river of tlie Narragansetts westward to the 
Pacific. The people who had built the House of Wisdom at Ncv.- 
Haven now found themselves the unwilling subjects of the new com- 
monwealth of Connecticut. 

For fourteen years the excellent Winthrop was annually chosen 
governor of the colony. Every year added largely to the population and 
M'calth of the province. The ci\al and religious institutions were the 
freest and best in New England. Peace reigned ; the husbandman was 
undisturbed in the field, the workman in his shop. Even during King 
Philip's War, Connecticut was saved I'rom invasion. Not a war-whoop 







THE YOOKGER WIMTHKOP. 



CONNECTICUT. 191 

was heard, not a liamlet burned, not a life lost, -within her borders. Her 
soldiers made common cause with their brethren of Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island ; but their own homes were saved from the desolations 
of war. 

In July of 1675, Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of New York, 
arrived with an armed sloop at the mouth of the Connecticut. Orders 
were sent to Captain Bull, who commanded the fort at Saybrook, to sur- 
render his post; but the brave captain replied by hoisting the flag of 
England and assuring the bearer of the message that his master would 
better retire. Andros, however, landed and came to a parley with the 
officers of the fort. He began to read his commission, but Miis ordered 
to stop. In vain did the arrogant magistrate insist that the dominions 
of the duke of York extended from the Connecticut to the Delaware. 
" Connecticut has her own charter, signed by His Gracious Majesty King 
Charles II.," said Captain Bull. " Leave off your reading, or take the 
consequences !" The argument prevailed, and the red-coated governor, 
trembling with rage, was escorted to his boat by a company cf Saybrook 
militia. 

In 1686, when Andros was made royal governor of New England, 
Connecticut Avas again included in his jurisdiction. The fii-st year of his 
administration was spent in establishing his authority in JNIassachusetts, 
Rhode Island and New Hampshire. In the following October he made 
his famous visit to Hartford. On the day of his arrival he invaded the 
provincial a&seinbly while in session, seized the book of minutes, and with 
his own hand*wrote FiNis at the bottom of the page. He demanded the 
immediate surrender of the colonial charter. Governor Treat pleaded 
long and earnestly for the preservation of the precious document. Andros 
was inexorable. The shades of evening fell. Joseph Wadsworth found 
in the gathering darkness an opportunity to conceal the cherished parch- 
ment — a deed which has made his own name and the name of a tree 
immortal. Two years later, when the government of Andros M'as over" 
thrown, Connecticut made haste to restore her liberties. 

In the autumn of 1693, another attempt was made to subvert the 
freedom of the colony. Fletcher, the governor of New York, went to 
Hartford to assume command of the militia of the province. He bore 
a commission from King William ; but by tiie terms of the charter the 
right of commanding the troops was vested in the colony itself. The 
general assembly refused to recognize the authority of Fletcher, who, 
nevertheless, ordered the soldiers under arms and proceeded to read his 
commission as colonel. " Beat the drums !" shouted Captain Wadsworth, 
who stood at the head of the company. " Silence I" said Fletcher ; the 



192 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

drums ceased, and the reading began again. "Drum! drum!" cried 
Wadsworth ; and a second time the voice of the reader was di'owned 
in the uproar. " Silence ! silence !" shouted the enraged governor. The 
dauntless Wadsworth stej)ped before the ranks and said, "Colonel 
Fletcher, if I am interrupted again, I will let the sunshine through your 
body in an instant." That ended the controversy. Benjamin Fletcher 
tliOTight it better to be a living governor of New York than a dead 
colonel of the Connecticut militia. 

" I give these books for the founding of a college in this colony." 
Such were the words often ministers who, in the year 1700, assembled at 
the village of Branford, a few miles east of New Haven. Each of the 
worthy lathers, as he uttered the words, deposited a few volumes on the 
table around which they were sitting ; such was the founding of Yale 
College. In 1702 the school was formally opened at Saybrook, where 
it continued for fifteen years, and was then removed to New Haven. 
One of the most liberal patrons of the college was Elihu Yale, from whom 
the famous institution of learning derived its name. Common schools 
had existed in almost every village of Connecticut since the planting 
of the colony. The children of the Pilgrims have never forgotten the 
cause of education. 

The half century preceding the French and Indian war was a 
period of prosperity to all the western districts of New England. Con- 
necticut was especially favored. Almost unbroken peace reigned through- 
out her borders. The blessings of a free commonwealth ^\ere realized in 
full mea.sure. The farmer reaped his fields in cheerfulness and hope. 
The mechanic made glad his dusty shop with anecdote and song. The 
merchant feared no duty, the villager no taxes. Want was unknown and 
pauperism unheard of Wealth w:is little cared for and crime of rare 
occurrence among a people with whom intelligence and virtue were the 
only foundations of nobility. With fewer dark pages in her history, less 
austerity of manners and greater liberality of sentiment, Connecticut had 
all the lofty purposes and shining virtues of Massachusetts. The visions 
of Hooker and Haynes, and tlie dreams of the quiet Winthrop, were more 
than realized in the happy homes of the Comiecticut valley. 



RHODE ISLAND. 193 



CHAPTER XXII. 

RHODE ISLAND. 

IT was in June of 1636 that the exiled Roger Williams left the country 
of the AVampanoags and passed down the Seekonk to Narragansett 
River. His object was to secure a safe retreat beyond the limits of Ply- 
tnouth colony. He, with his five companions, landed on the western 
bank, at a place called Moshassuck, purchased the soil of the Narragansett 
sachems, and laid the foundations of Providence. Other exiles joined the 
company. New farms were laid out, new fields were ploughed and nevr 
houses built; here, at last, was found at Providence Plantation a 
refuge for all the distressed and persecuted. 

The leader of the new colony was a native of Wales ; born in 1606 ; 
liberally educated at Cambridge ; the pupil of Sir Edward Coke ; in after 
years the friend of Milton ; a dissenter ; a hater of ceremonies ; a disciple 
of truth in its purest forms ; an uncompromising advocate of freedom ; 
exiled to Massachusetts, and now exiled by Massachusetts, he brought 
to the banks of the Narragansett the great doctrines of perfect religious 
liberty and the equal rights of men. If the area of Rhode Island had 
corresponded with the grandeur of the principles on which she was 
founded, who could have foretold her destiny ? 

Roger Williams belonged to that most radical body of dissenters 
called Anabaptists. By them the validity of infant baptism was denied. 
Williams himself had been baptized in infancy ; but his vie^vs in regard 
to the value of the ceremony had undergone a change during his ministry 
at Salem. Now that he had freed himself from all foreign authority' both 
of Church and State, he conceived it to be his duty to receive a second 
baptism. But who should perform the ceremony ? Ezekiel Holliman, 
a layman, was selected for the sacred duty. Williams meekly received 
the rite at the hands of his friend, and then in turn Imptized him and ten 
other exiles of the colony. Such was the organization of THE FIRST 
Baptist Church in America. 

The beginning of civil government in Rhode Island was equally 

. simple and democratic. Mr. Williams was tlie natural ruler of the little 

province, but he reserved for himself neither wealth nor pri^^lege. The 



194 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

lands which he purchased from Canonicas and Miantouomoh were freely 
aistributed among the colonists. Only two small helds, to be planted 
and tilled with his own hands, were kept by the benevolent founder for 
liimsclf How different from the grasping avarice of Wingfield and Lord 
Cornbury ! All the jjowers of the colonial government were entrusted to 
the people. A simple agreement was made and signed by the settlers that 
in all matters not affecting the conscience they would yield a cheerful 
obedience to such rules as the majority might make for the jiublic welfare. 
In questions of religion the individual conscience should be to every man 
a guide. "When Massachusetts objected that such a democracy would leave 
nothing for the magistrates to do, Rhode Island answered that magistrates 
were wellnigh useless. 

The new government stood the test of experience. The evil prophe- 
cies of its enemies were unfulfilled ; instead of predicted turmoil and dis- 
sension. Providence Plantation had nothing but peace and quiet. It was 
found that all religious sects could live together in harmony, and that 
difference of opinion was not a bar to friendship. All beliefs were wel- 
come at Narragansett Bay. A Buddhist from Japan or a pagan from 
Madagascar would have been received at Providence and cordially enter- 
tained. Miantouomoh, the young sachem of the Narragansetts, loved 
Roger Williams as a brother. It was the confidence of this chieftain that 
enabled Williams to notify Massachusetts of the Pequod conspiracy, and 
then at the hazard of his life to defeat the plans of the hostile nation. 
This magnanimous act awakened the old affections of his friends at Salem 
and Plymouth, and an effort was made to recall him and his fellow-exiles 
from banishment. It was urged that a man of such gracious abilities, so 
full of patience and charity, could never be dangeroas in a State ; but his 
enemies answered that the principles and teachings of Williams would 
subvert the commonwealth and bring Massachusetts to ruin. The pro- 
posal was rejected. The ancient Greeks sometimes recalled their exiled 
heroes from banishment ; the colony of Massachusetts, never. 

During the Pequod war of 1637, Rhode Island was protected by the 
friendly Narragansetts. The territory of this powerftil tribe lay between 
Providence and the country of the Pequods, and there was little fear of 
an invasion. The next year was noted for the arrival of Mrs. Hutchinson 
and her friends at the island of Rhode Island. The leaders of the com- 
pany were John Clarke and William Coddington. It had been their 
intention to conduct the colony to Long Island, or perhaps to the country 
of the Delaware. But Roger Williams made haste to welcome them 
to his province, where no man's conscience might be distressed. Gov- 
ernor Vane of Massachusetts, sympathizing with the refugees, prevaileo 



RHODE ISLAND. 



195 




with Miantonomoh to make them a gift of Rhode Island. Here, in the 
early spring of 1638, the colony was j^lanted. The first settlement was 
made at Portsmouth, in the 
northern part of the island. *, 
Other exiles came to join their ; 
friends, and civil government 
was thought desirable. The 
Jewish nation furnished the 
model. William Coddington 
was chosen judge in the new- 
Israel of Narragansett Bay, 
and three elders were aji- 
pointed to assist him in the 
government. In the follow- 
ing year the title of judge 
gave way to that of governor, 
and the administration be- 
came more modern in its 
methods. At the same time 
a party of colonists removed 
from Portsmouth, already 
crowded with exiles, to the 

^outh-western part of the island, and laid the foundations of Newport. 
Hither had come, more than six hundred years before, the hardy adven- 
turers of Iceland. Here had been a favorite haunt of the wayward sea- 
kings of the eleventh century. Here, in sight of the new settlement, 
stood the old stone tower, the most celebrated monument left by the 
Norsemen in America. 

The island was soon peopled. The want of civil government began 
to be felt as a serious inconvenience. Mr. Coddington's new Israel had 
proved an utter failure. In March of 1641 a public meeting was con- 
vened ; the citizens came together on terms of j'erfect equality, and the 
task of framing a constitution was undertaken. In three days the instru- 
ment was completed. The government was declared to be a " Demo- 
CRACIE," or government by the people. The supreme authority Mas 
lodged with the whole body of freemen in the island ; and freemen, in 
this instance, meant everybody. The vote of the majority should always 
rule. No soul should be distressed on accoun. of religious doctrine 
Liberty of conscience, even in the smallest particular, should be uni- 
versally respected. A seal of State was ordered, having for its design 
a sheaf of arrows and a motto of Amor vincet omnia The little 



THE OLD STONE TOWER AT NEWPORT. 



196 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

republic of Narragansett Bay was named the Plantation of Khode 
Island. 

In 1643 was formed the Union of New England. Providence and 
Rhode Island both jjleadcd for admission, and both Mere rejected. The 
meaning of this illiberal action on the part of the older and more power- 
Ril colonies was that the settlements on the Narragansett belonged to the 
jurisdiction of Plymouth. Alarmed at the pros})ect of being again put 
under the dominion of their persecutoi-s, the exiled republicans of Rhode 
Island determined to appeal to the English government for a charter. 
Roger "Williams w;is accordmgly appointed agent of the two plantations 
and sent to London. He was cordially received by his old and steadfast 
friend Sir Henry Vane, now an influential member of Parliament. The 
plea of Rhode Island was heard with favor; and on the 14th of March 
in the following year the coveted charter was granted. Great was the 
rejoicing when the successful ambassador returned to his people. The 
grateful colonists met their benefactor at Seekonk, and conducted him to 
Providence with shouts and exultation. Rhode Island had secured hei- 
independence. 

The first general assembly of the province was convened at Ports- 
mouth, in 1647. The new government was organized in strict accordance 
with the provisions of the charter. A code of laws was framed; the 
principles of democracy were reaffirmed, and full religious toleration and 
freedom of conscience guaranteed to all. A president and subordinate 
officers were chosen, and Rhode Island began her career as an indejiendent 
colony. 

Once the integrity of the province was endangered- In 1651. 
William Coddington, who had never been satisfied with the failure of his 
Jewish commonwealth, succeeded in obtaining from the English council 
of state a decree by which the island of Rhode Island was separated from 
the common government. But the zealous protests of John Clarke and 
Roger Williams, who went a second time to London, prevented the dis- 
union, and the decree of separation was revoked. The grateful people 
now desired that their magnanimous benefactor should be commissioned 
by the English council as governor of the province; but the l>liiid grat 
itude of his friends could not prevail over the wisdom of the prudent 
leader. He foresaw the danger, and refused the tempting commission* 
Roger AV^illiams mts proof against all the seductions of ambition. 

The faithful Clarke remained in England to guard the interests of 
the colony. It was not long until his services were greatly needed. The 
restoration of monarchy occurred in 1660. Charles II. came home in 
triumph from his long exile. Rhode Island had accepte<l a charter from 



RHODE ISLAND. 197 

the Long Parliament ; tliat Parliament had driven Charles I. from his 
throne, had made war ujion him, beaten him in battle, imprisoned him, 
beheaded him. Was it likely that the son of that monarch would allow a 
colonial charter Issued by the Long Parliament to stand ? Would he not 
with vindictive scorn dash the patent of the little republic out of exist- 
ence ? The people of Rhode Island had hardly the courage to plead for the 
preservation of their liberty ; but taking heart, they wrote a loyal petition 
to the new sovereign, praying for the renewal of their charter. To their in- 
finite delight, and to the wonder of after times, the king listened with favor ; 
Clarendon, the minister, assented; and on the 8th of July, 1663, the 
charter was reissued. The freedom of the colony was in no Avise restricted. 
All the liberal provisions of the parliamentary jiatent were revived. Not 
even an oath of allegiance was required of the people. 

On the 24th of November the island of Rhode Island was thronged 
with people. George Baxter had come with the charter. Opening the 
box that contained it, he held aloft the precious parchment. There, sure 
enough, was the signature of King Charles II. There was His Majesty's 
royal stamp; there was the broad seal of England. The charter was read 
aloud to the joyful people. The little "democracie" of Rhode Island 
was safe. The happy colonists were not to blame when they began their 
letter of thanks as follows: "To King Charles of England, for his high 
and inestimable — yea, incomparable — favor." 

For nearly a quarter of a century Rhode Island prospered. The 
distresses of King Philip's War were forgotten. Roger Williams grew 
old and died. At last came Sir Edmund Andros, the enemy of New 
England. After overthrowing the liberties of Massachusetts, he next 
demanded the surrender of the charter of Rhode Island. The demand 
was for a while evaded by Governor Walter Clarke and the colonial as- 
sembly. But Andros, not to be thwarted, repaired to Newport, dissolved 
the government and broke the seal of the colony. Five irresponsible 
councilors were appointed to control the afiaii-s of the i^rovince, and the 
commonwealth was in ruins. 

But the usurpation was as brief as it was shameful. In the spring 
of 1689 the news was borne to Rhode Island that James II. had abdi- 
cated the throne of England, and that Andros and his officers were pris- 
oners at Boston. On Mav-day the people rushed to Newport and made 
a proclamation of their gratitude for the great deliverance. Walter Clarke 
was reelected governor, but was fearful of accepting. Almy was elected, 
and also declined. Then an old Quaker, named Henry Bull, more than 
eighty years of age, was chosen. He was one of the founders of the colony. 
He had known Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams. Should he, in 



1D8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

his gray hairs, tlirough fear and timidity, refuse the post of danger? The 
old veteran accepted the trust, and spent his last days in restoring tlie 
liberties of Rhode Island. 

Again the little State around the Bay of Narragansett was pros- 
peroas. For more than fifty years the peace of the colony was undis- 
turbed. The principles of the illastrious founder became the principles 
of the commonwealth. The renown of Rhode Island has not been in 
vastness of territory, in mighty cities or victorious armies, but in a stead- 
fast devotion to truth, justice and freedom. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



[N the year 1622 the territory lying between the rivers Merrimac and 
Kennebec, reaching from the sea to the St. Lawrence, was granted 
)y the council of Plymouth to Sir Ferdinand Gorges and John Mason. 
The history of New Hampshire begins with the following year. For the 
j)roprietors made haste to secure their new domain by actual settlements. 
In the early spring of 1623 two small companies of colonists were .sent 
out by Mason and Gorges to people their province. The coast of New 
Hampshire had first been visited by Martin Pring in 1603. Eleven 
yeara later the restless Captain Smith explored the spacious harbor at 
the mouth of the Piscataqua, and spoke with delight of the deep and 
tranquil waters. 

One party of the new immigrants landed at Little Harbor, two 
miles south of the present site of Portsmouth, and began to build a village. 
The other party proceeded uj) stream, entered the Cocheco, and, four miles 
above the mouth of that tributary, laid the foundations of Dover. With 
the exception of Plymouth and Weymouth, Portsmouth and Dover are 
the oldest towns in New England. But the progress of the settlements 
was slow; for many years tiic two villages were only fishing-stations. 
In 1629 the proprietors divided their dominions. Gorges retaining the 
part north of the Pisaitaqua, and Mason taking exclusive control of the 
district between the Piscataqua and the Merrimac. In May of this year. 
Rev. John Wheelwright, who soon afterward became a leader in the party 
of Anne Hutchinson, visited the Abenaki chieftains, and purcha.sed their 



NEW HAMPSHIRE 199 

claims to the soil of the whole territory held by Mason ; but in the fol- 
lowing November, INIason's title was confirmed by a second patent from 
the council, and the name of the province was changed from Laconia to 
New Hampshire. Very soon Massachusetts began to urge her chartered 
rights to the district north of the Merrimac ; already the claims to the 
jurisdiction of the new colony were numerous and conflicting. 

In November of 1635, Mason died, and his widow undertook the 
government of the province. But the expenses of the colony were greater 
than the revenues ; the chief tenants could not be paid for their sers'ices ; 
and after a few j-eai-s of mismanagement the territory was given up to the 
servants and dependents of the late proprietor. Such was the condition 
of affairs when Mrs. Hutchinson and her friends were banished from 
Boston. Wheelwright, who was of the number, now found use for the 
lauds which he had purchased in New Hampshire. When Clarke and 
CoddLngton, leading the greater number of the exiles, set out for Rhode 
Island, Wheelwright, with a small party of friends, repaired to the banks 
of the Piscataqua. At the head of tide-water on that stream they halted, 
and founded the village of Exeter. The little colony was declared a 
republic, established on the principle of equal right and universal toler- 
ation. 

The proposition to unite New Hampshire with Massachusetts was 
received with favor by the people of both colonies. The liberal provisions 
of the Body of Liberties, adopted by the older province in 1641, excited 
the villagers of the Piscataqua, and made them anxious to join the desti- 
nies of the free commonwealth of Massachusetts. A union was immedi- 
ately proposed; on the 14th of the following April terms of consolidation 
were agreed on, and New Hampshire, by the act of her own peoj)le, Mas 
united with the older colony. It is worthy of special notice that the law 
of Massachusetts restricting the rights of citizenship to church members 
was not extended over the new province. The people of Portsmouth and 
Dover belonged to the Church of England, and it was deemed unjust to 
discriminate against them on account of their religion. New Hampshire 
was the only colony east of the Hudson not originally founded by the 
Puritans. 

The union continued in force until 1679. In the mean time the 
heirs of Mason had revived the claim of the old proprietor of the province. 
The cause had been duly investigated in the courts of England, and in 
1677 a decision was reached that the Masonian claims were invalid as to 
the civil jurisdiction of New Hampshire, but valid as to the soil — that is, the 
heirs were the lawful owners, but not the lawful governors, of the territory. 
It was evident from the character of this decision that King Charles in- 



200 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

teudcd to assert liis own right of government over New Hampsliire, aiui 
at the same time to confer the ownei-ship of the soil upon the represent- 
atives of Mason. Nor was the province long left in doubt as to the king's 
intentions. On the 24th of July, 1670, a decree was published by which 
New Hampshire was separated from the jurisdiction of Massachasetts and 
organized as a distinct royal province. The excuse was that the claims 
of the Alasons against the farmers of New Hampshire would have to be 
determined in colonial courts, and that colonial courts could not be estab- 
lished without the organization of a separate colony. It was clearly fore- 
seen that in such trials the courts of Massachusetts would always decide 
against the ^lasons. The purjjose of the king became still more apparent 
M'hen Robert j\Ia.son, himself the largest claimant of all, was allowed to 
nominate a governor for the province: Edward Cranfield was selected for 
that office. 

The people of New Hampshire were greatly excited by the threatened 
destruction of their liberties. Before Cranfield's arrival the rugged saw- 
yers and lumbermen of the Piscataqua had convened a general assembly 
at Portsmouth. The first resolution which was passed by the represent- 
atives showed the spirit of colonial resistance in full force. " No act, im- 
position, law or ordinance," said the sturdy legislators, " shall be valid 
unless made by the assembly and approved by the people." When the 
indignant king heard of this resolution, he declared it to be lioth wicked 
and absurd. It was not the fii'st time that a monarch and his people had 
disagreed. 

In November of 1682, Cranfield dismissed the popular as.sembly. 
Such a despotic act had never before been attempted in New England. 
The excitement ran high ; the governor was openly denounced, and his 
claims for rents and forfeitures were stubbornly resisted. At Exeter the 
sheriff was beaten with clubs. The farmers' wives met the tax-gatherers 
with pailfulls of hot water. At the village of Hampton, Cranfield's 
deputy was led out of town with a rope round his neck. When tlie 
governor ordered out the militia, not a man obeyed the summons. It was 
in the midst of these broils that Cranfield, unable to collect his rents and 
vexed out of his wits, wrote to England begging f!ir the privilege of going 
home. The "unreasonable" people who were all the time caviling at his 
commission and denying his authority were at length freed from his 
presence. 

An effort was now made to restore New Hampshire to the jurisdiction 
of Massachusetts ; but before this could be done the charter of the latter 
province had been taken away and Edmund Andros appointed governor 
of all New England. The colonies north of the M3rrimac, seeing that 



iVii'jr HAMPSHIRE. 201 

even Ma,s.sachiisetts had been brought to submission, oifered no resistance 
to Andres, but quietly yielded to his authority. Until the English revo- 
lution of 1688, and the consequent downfall of Andros, New Hampshire 
remained under the dominion of the royal governor. But when he was 
seized and imprisoned by the citizens of Boston, the people of the northern 
towns also rose in rebellion and reasserted then* freedom. A general as- 
sembly was convened at Portsmouth in the spring of 1690, and an ordi- 
nance was at once passed reannexing New Hampshire to Massachusetts. 
But in August of 1692 this action was annulled by the English govern- 
ment, and the two provinces were a second time separated against the 
protests of the people. In 1698, when the earl of Bellomont came out as 
royal governor of New York, his commission was made to include both 
Massachusetts and New Hampshire. For a period of forty-two years the 
two provinces, though retaining their separate legislative assemblies, con- 
tinued under the authority of a common executive. Not until 1741 was 
a final separation effected between the colonies north and south of the 
Merrimac. 

Meanwhile, the heirs of Mason, embarrassed with delays and vexed 
by opposing claimants, had sold to Samuel Allen, of London, their title 
to New Hampshire. To him, in 1691, the old Masonian patent was 
transferred. His son-in-law, named Usher, a land speculator of Boston, 
was appointed deputy governor. The new proprietor made a long and 
futile effort to enforce his claim to the lands of the province, but was every- 
where resisted. Lawsuits were begun in the colonial courts, but no 
judgments could be obtained against the occupants of lands ; all efforts to 
drive the farmers into the payment of rents or the surrender of their 
homes were unavailing. For many years the history of New Hampshire 
contains little else than a record of strife and contention. Finally, Allen 
died; and in 1715, after a struggle of a quarter of a century, his heirs 
abandoned their claim in despair. A few years afterward one of the de- 
scendants of ]\Ias(3n discovered that the deed which his kinsmen had made 
to Allen was defective. The original Masonian patent was accordingly 
revived, and a last effort was made to secure possession of the province, 
but was all in vain. The colonial government had now grown strong; 
enough to defend the rights of its people, and the younger Masons were 
obliged to abandon their pretensions. In the final adjustment of tliis 
long-standing difficulty the colonial authorities allowed the validity of 
the Masonian patent as to the unoccupied poi-tions of the territory, and 
the heirs made a formal surrender of their claims to all the rest. 

Of all the New England colonies. New Hampshire suffered most 
from the French and Indian Wars. Her settlements were feeble, and her 



202 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

territory most exposed to savage invasion. In the last year of King 
Philip's War the suflering along the frontier of the province was very 
great. Again, in the wars of William, Anne and George, the villages of 
the northern colony were visited with devastation and ruin. But in the 
intervals of peace the spirits of the people revived, and the hardy settlers 
returned to their wasted farms to begin anew the struggle of life. Out 
of these conflicts and trials came that sturdy and resolute race of pioneers 
who bore such a heroic part in the greater contests of after years. 

Such is the story of the ]>lanting, progress, and development of 
New England. Hither had come, in the beginning, a people of sober 
habits, frugal lives, and lofty purposes. Before their imagination was 
one vision — the vision of freedom. And freedom to the men who laid 
the foundations of civilization in New England meant the breaking off 
of every species of thralldom. These people came to the New World 
to stay. They voluntarily chose the wilderness with its forests, and 
snows, and savages. For forests, and snows, and savages were better 
than luxury with despotism. In Virginia as late as the middle of the 
eighteenth century many of the planters still looked fondly across the 
ocean and spoke of England as their " home." Not so with the peo- 
ple whose hamlets were scattered from the Penobscot to the Housa- 
tonic. With them the humble cabin in the frozen woods under the 
desolate sky of winter was a cheerful and sunny " home " — if only 
Freedom was written on the threshold. 



COLONIAL HISTORY.— Continued. 

MINOR MIDDLE COLONIES. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

NEW JERSEY. 

THE colonial history of New Jersey properly begins with the fonnd- 
ing of Elizabethtown, in 1664. As early as 1618 a feeble trading 
.station had been established at Bergen, west of the Hudson ; but forty 
years elapsed before permanent dwellings were built in that neigh- 
borhood. In 1623 the block-house, called Fort Nassau, was erected 
at the mouth of Timber Creek, on the Delaware ; after a few months' 
occupancy. May and his companions abandoned the place and returned 
to New Amsterdam. Six years later the southern part of the present 
State of New Jersey was granted to Godyn and Blomaert, two of the 
Dutch patroons ; but no settlement was made. In 1634 there was 
not a single European living between Delaware Bay and the fortieth 
degree of latitude. In 1651 a considerable district, including the site 
of Elizabethtown, was purchased by Augustine Herman ; but still no 
colony was planted. Seven years afterwards a larger grant, embracing 
the old trading house at Bergen, was made; and in 1663 a company 
of Puritans, living on Long Island, obtained permission of Governor 
Stuyvesant to settle on the banks of the Raritan ; but no settlement 
was effected until after the conquest. 

All the territory of New Jersey was included in the grant made by 
King Charles to his brother the duke of York. Two months before the 
conquest of New Netherland by the English, that portion of the duke's 
province lying between the Hudson and the Delaware, extending as far 
north as forty-one degrees and forty minutes, was assigned by the proprietor 
to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. These noblemen were already 
proprietors of Carolina ; but they had adhered to the king's cause during 
the civil war in England, and were now rewarded with a second Amer- 
ican province. Almost immediately after the conquest another company 
of Puritans made application to Governor NicoUs, and received an exten- 
sive grant of land on Newark Bay. The Indian titles were honorably 

(203) 



204 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

purchased ; in tlio followiiiEi; October a village was begun anrl named 
Elizabethtown, in honor of Lady Carteret. 

In August of 1665, Philip Carteret, son of Sir George, arrived as 
governor of the province. At first he was violently opposed by Nicolls 
of New York, who refused to believe that the duke had divided his terri- 
tory-. But Carteret was armed with a commission, and could not be pre- 
vented from taking jwssession of the new settlements below the Hudson. 
Elizabethtown was made the capital of the colony ; other immigrants 
arrived from Long Island and settled on the banks of the Passaic ; New- 
ark was founded ; flourishing hamlets appeared on the shores of the bay 
as far south as Sandy Hook. In honor of Sir George Carteret, who had 
been governor of the Isle of Jersey, in the English Channel, his American 
domain was named New Jersey. 

Experience had taught the proprietors wisdom ; they had learned 
that freedom is essential to the prosperity of a colony, and that liberal 
concessions to the people are better than great outlays of money. Berke- 
ley and Carteret, though royalists themselves, provided for their new State 
an excellent constitution. Person and property were put under the protec- 
tion of law. The government was made to consist of a governor, a council 
and a popular legislative assembly. There should be no taxation unless 
levied by the representatives of the people. DiiFerence of opinion should 
be respected, and freedom of conscience guaranteed to every citizen. The 
proprietors reserved to themselves only the right of annulling objection- 
able acts of the assembly and of appointing the governor and colonial 
judges. The lands of the province were distributed to the settlers for a 
quit-rent of a half penny per acre, not to be paid until 1670. 

In 1668 the first general assembly convened at Elizabethtown. 
Nearly all the representatives were Puritans, and the laws and customs 
of New England were thus early impressed on the legislation of the 
colony. Attairs went well until 1 670, M'hen the half-]ienny quit-rents M-ere 
due to the pi'oprietors. The colonists, in the mean time, had purchased 
their lands of the Indians, and also of Governor Nicolls of New York, 
vho still claimed New Jersey as a jjart of his province. To the settlers, 
therefore, it seemed that their titles to their farms were good without 
further payment to Philip Carteret or anybody else. The collection of 
the rents was accordingly resisted ; and the colony became a scene first of 
strife and then of revolution. In May of 1672 the colonial assembly 
convened and deposed the governor from office. James Carteret, another 
son of Sir George, was chosen governor, and Philij) returned to England. 

In 1673 the Dutch succeeded in retaking New York from the Eng- 
lish. For a few months the old province of New Netherland, including 



NEW JERSEY. 



205 



the country as far south as the Delaware, was restored to Holland. But 
in the next year the whole territory was re-ceded by the states-general to 
England. The duke of York now received from his brother, the king, 
a second pate:it for the country between the Connecticut and the Delaware, 
and at the same time confirmed his former grant of New Jersey to Bei'ke- 
ley and Carteret. Then, in utter disregard of the rights of the two pro 
prietors, the duke appointed Sir Edmund A ndros as royal governor of 
the whole province. Carteret determined to defend his claim against the 
authority of Andros ; but Lord Berkeley, disgusted with the duke's vacil- 
lation and dishonesty, sold his interest in New Jersey to John Fenwlck, 
to be held in trust for Edward Byllinge. 

In 1675, Philip Carteret returned to America and resumed the 
government of the province from which he had been expelled. Andros 
opposed him in every act ; claimed 
New Jersey as a part of his own 
dominions; kept the colony in an 
uproar ; compelled the ships which 
came a-trading with the new settle- 
ments to pay tribute at New York ; 
and finally arrested Carteret and 
brought him to his own cajiital for 
trial. Meanwhile, Byllinge became 
embarrassed with debt, and was forced 
to make an assignment of his property. 
Gawen Laurie, Nicholas Lucas and 
William Penn were appointed trus- 
tees, and to them Byllinge's interest 
in New Jersey was assigned for the 
benefit of his creditors. 

The assignees were Quakers. 
Here, then, was an opportunity to 
establish another asylum for the 
persecuted, and to found a common- 
wealth of Friends. Penn and his 
associates at once applied to Sir 
George Carteret for a division of the 
province. That nobleman was both 
Avilling and anxious to enter into an 
arrangement by which his own half 

of the territory could be free<l from all encumbrance. It was accordingly 
agreed to divide New Jersey so that Carteret's district should be separated 




EAST AND WEST JERSEY, 1677. 



206 JIISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

from the domain of the Quakers. After much discussion an agreement 
was reached in the summer of 1676, and a line of division was drawn 
through the province as follows : Beginning at the southern point of 
land on the east side of Little Egg Harbor, and running north of north- 
west to a point on the river Delaware in the latitude of forty-one degrees 
and forty minutes. The territory lying east of this line remained to 
Sir George as sole proprietor, and was named East Jersey ; while tliat 
portion lying between the line and the Delaware -was called "West 
Jersey, and passed under the exclusive control of Penn and his asso- 
ciates as assignees of Byllinge. 

Early in the following March the Quaker proprietors completed and 
published a body of laws under the singular title of Concessions. But 
the name was significant, tor everything was conceded to the ])eople. 
This firet simple code enacted by the Friends in America rivaled the 
charter of Connecticut in the liberality and purity of its principles. The 
authors of the instrument accompanied its publication with a general 
letter addressed to the Quakers of England, recommending the province 
and in\'iting immigration. 

The invitation was not in vain. Before the end of the year a 
colony of more than four hundred Friends arrived in the Delaware, and 
found homes in West Jersey. Only one circumstance clouded the pros- 
pects of the new commonwealth of peace. The agent of Andros, governor 
of New York, was stationed at New Castle, on the Mestern bank of the 
Delaware, to command the entrance to the river. The Quaker ships 
were obliged to pay customs before proceeding to their destination. A 
powerful remonstrance was drawn up by the Friends and sent to Eng- 
land. For once the duke of York listened to reason and agreed to sub- 
mit his cause to the courts; and for once a decision was rendered in 
accordance with right and justice. The eminent jurist Sir AVilliam 
Jones decided that the duke had no legal right to collect duties and taxes 
in the country of the Delaware. All claims to the territory and govern- 
ment of West Jersey were accordingly withdrawn ; and the Quaker col- 
onists were left in the enjoyment of independence. The heirs of Sir 
George Carteret were quick to see that the same decision would free their 
half of the province from the jurisdiction of Andros. An eifort was 
accordingly made by the proprietors of East Jersey to secure a deed of 
release from the duke of York. The petition was favorably entertained, 
the deed issued and the whole territory between the Hudson and the 
Delaware freed from foreign authority. 

In November of 1681, Jennings, the deputy-governor of West 
Jersey, convened the first general assembly of the province. The men 



NEW JERSEY. 207 

who had so worried the aristocracy of England by wearing their hats in 
the presence of great men, and by saying Thee and Tlioa, now met together 
to make their own laws. The code was brief and simple. The doctrines 
of the Concessions were reaffirmed. Men of all races and of all religions 
were declared to be equal before the law. No superiority was conceded 
to rank or title, to wealth or royal birth. Imprisonment for debt was 
forbidden. The sale of ardent spirits to the Red men was prohibited. 
Taxes should be voted by the representatives of the people. The lands 
of the Indians should be acquired by honorable purchase. Finally, a 
criminal — unless a murderer, a traitor or a thief — might be pardoned by 
the person against whom the offence was committed. 

In 1682, William Penn and eleven other Friends purchased of the 
heirs of Carteret the province of East Jersey. Robert Barclay, an em- 
inent Quaker of Aberdeen, in Scotland, and author of the book called 
Barclay's Apology, -was appointed governor for life. The whole of New 
Jersey was now under the authority of the Friends. The administration 
of Barclay, which continued until his death, in 1690, M'as chiefly noted 
for a large immigration of Scotch Quakers who left the governor's native 
country to find freedom in East Jersey. The persecuted Presbyterians of 
Scotland came to the province in still greater numbers. 

On the accession of James II., in 1685, the American colonies from 
Maine to Delaware Avere consolidated, and Edmund Andros appointed 
royal governor. His first year in America was spent in establishing his 
authority at Boston, Providence and Hartford. Not until 1688 were 
New York and the two Jerseys brought under his jurisdiction. The 
short reign of King James was already at an end before Andros could 
succeed in setting up a despotism on the ruin of colonial liberty. When 
the news came of the abdication and flight of the English monarch, the 
governor of New England could do nothing but surrender to the indig- 
nant people whom he had wronged and insulted. His arrest and im- 
prisonment was the signal for the restoration of popular government in all 
the colonies over which he had ruled. 

But the condition of New Jersey was deplorable. It was almost 
impossible to tell to whom the jurisdiction of the territory rightfully be- 
longed. So far as the eastern province was concerned, the representatives 
of Carteret claimed it ; the governor of New York claimed it ; Penn and 
his associates claimed it. As to the western province, the heirs of Byllinge 
claimed it ; Lucas, Laurie and Penn claimed it ; the governor of New 
York claimed it. Over all these pretensions stood the paramount claim 
of the English king. From 1689 to 1692 there was no settled form of 
government in the territory j and for ten years thereafter the colony was 



208 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

vexed and distracted with the presence of more rulers than any one 
})ro\ince could accommodate. 

At last self-interest solved the problem. The proprietors came to 
see that a peaceable possession of the soil of the Jerseys was worth more 
than the uncertain honors of government. A proposition was accordinglv 
made that all the claimants should surrender their rights of cival jurisdic- 
tion to the English Crown, retaniiug only the ownership of the soil. The 
measure was successfully carried out; and in April of 1702, all ])ropn- 
etary claims being waived in favor of the sovereign, the territoiy between 
the Hudson and the Delaware became a royal province. 

New Jersey was now attached to the government of Lord Corn- 
bury of New York. The union of the two colonies, however, extended 
only to the office of chief magistrate ; each province retained its own legis- 
lative assembly and a distinct territorial organization. This method of 
government continued for thirty-six years, and was then terminated by 
the action of the people. In 1728 the representatives of New Jersey sent 
a i)etition to George II., praying for a separation of the two colonies ; but 
the application was at first refused. Ten years later the ])etition was 
renewed, and through the influence of Lewis Morris brought to a success- 
ful issue. New Jersey was made independent, and Morris himself received 
a commission as first royal governor of the separated jn-ovince. 

The people of New Jersey were but little disturbed by the succes- 
sive Indian ware. The native tribes on this part of the American coast 
were weak and timid. Had it not been for the cruelties of Kieft and the 
wrongs of other governors of New York, the peace of the middle colonies 
would never have been broken. The province of New Jersey is specially 
interesting as being the point where the civilization of New England met 
and blended with the civilization of the South. Here the institutions, 
manners and laws of the Pilgrims were first modified by contact with the 
less rigid habits and opinions of the people who came with Gosnold and 
Smith. The dividing line between East and "West Jersey is also the 
dividing line between the austere Puritans of Massachusetts and the 
chivalrous cavaliers of Virginia. Happily, along this dividing line the 
men of peace, the followers of Pcnn and Barclay, came and dwelt as if 
to subdue ill-will and make a Union possible. 



PEXmYLVANlA. 209 



CHAPTER XXV. 

PENNSYLVAKIA. 

THE Quakers were greatly encouraged with the success of their col- 
onies in West New Jersey. Tiie prospect of establishing on the 
banks of the Delaware u free State, founded on the principle of universal 
brotherhood, kindled a new enthusiasm in the mind of William Penn. 
For more than a quarter of a century the Friends had been buffeted with 
shameful persecutions. Imprisonment, exile and proscription had been 
tiieir constant portion, but had not sufficed to abate their zeal or to 
quench their hopes of tlie future. The lofty purpose and philanthropic 
spirit of Penn urged him to find for his afflicted people an asylum of rest. 
In June of 1680 he went boldly to King Charles, and petitioned for a 
grant of territory and the privilege of founding a Quaker commonwealth 
in the New World. 

The petition was seconded by powerful friends in Parliament. 
Lords North and Halifax and the earl of Sunderland favored the propo- 
sition, and the duke of York remembered a pledge of assistance which he 
had given to Penn's father. On the 5th of March, 1681, a charter was 
granted ; the great seal of England, with the signature of Charles II., was 
affixed ; and William Penn became the proprietor of Pennsylvania. 
The vast domain embraced under the new patent was bounded on the 
east by the river Delaware, extended north and south over three degrees 
of latitude, and westward through five degrees of longitude. Only the 
three counties comprising the present State of Delaware were reserved for 
the duke of York. 

In consideration of this grant, Penn relinquished a claim of sixteen 
thousand pounds sterling which the British government owed to liLs 
flither's estate. He declared that his objects were to found a free com- 
monwealth without respect to the color, race or religion of the inhabitants; 
to subdue the natives with 'no other weapons than love and justice ; to 
establish a refuge for the people of his own faith; and to enlarge the 
bordei-s of the British empire. One of the first acts of the great propri- 
etor was to address a letter to the Swedes who might be included within 
14 



210 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the limits of his province, telling them to be of good cheer, to keep their 
homes, make their own laws and fear no oppression. 

Within a month from the date of his charter, Penn published to tlie 
English nation a glowing account of his new country beyond the Del- 
aware, praising the licauty of the scenery and salubrity of the climate, 
promising freedom of conscience and equal rights, and inviting emigra- 
tion. There was an immediate and hearty response. In the couree of 
the summer three shiploads of Quaker emigrants left England for the 
land of promise. William Markham, agent of the proprietor, came as 
leader of the company and deputy-governor of the province. He was 
instructed by Penn to rule in accordance with law, to deal justly with all 
men, and esi)ecially to make a league of friendship with the Indians. In 
October of the same year the anxious proprietor sent a letter directly to- 
the natives of the territory, assuring them of his honest purposes and 
brotherly affection. 

The next care of Penn was to draw up a frame of government for 
his province. Herein was his great temptation. He had almost ex- 
hausted his father's estate in aiding the persecuted Quakers. A stated 
revenue would be very necessary in conducting his administration. His 
proprietary rights under the charter were so ample that he might easily 
reserve for himself large prerogatives and great emoluments in the govern- 
ment. He had befoi-e him the oj)tion of being a consistent, honest 
Quaker or a politic, wealthy governor. He chose like a man ; right 
triumphed over riches. The constitution which he framed was liberal 
almost to a fault ; and the people were allowed to adopt or reject it as 
they might deem proper. 

In the mean time, the duke of York had been induced to surrender 
his claim to the three reserved counties on tlie Delaware. The whole- 
country on the western bank of the bay and river, from the open ocean 
below Cape Henlopen to the forty-third degree of north latitude, was now 
under the dominion of Penn. The summer of 1682 was spent in 
further j)reparation. The proprietor wrote a touching letter of farewell 
to the Friends in England ; gathered a large company of emigrants ; em- 
barked for America ; and on the 27th of October landed at New Castle, 
where the people were waiting to recei^'e liini. 

I William Penn, the founder of Philadelphia, was born on the 14th 
of October, 1644. He was the oldest son of Vid^Vdmiral Sir William 
Penn of the British navy. At the age of 'twelye he was sent to the 
University of Oxford, where he distinguished hiEHself as a student unti) 
he was expelled on account of his religious opinions. Afterward he 
tr.iveled on the Continent ; was again a student at Saumur ; returned to- 



PENAiiYLVAiMA. 



211 



study law at London ; went to Ireland ; became a soldier ; heard the 
preacliing of Loe and was converted to the Quaker faith. His disap- 
pointed and angry 
father drove him 
out of doors, but 
he was not to be 
turned from his 
course. He pub- 
licly proclaimed 
the doctrines of the 
Friends ; wa.s ar- 
rested and impris- 
oned f o r nine 
months in the Tow- 
er of London. Be- 
ing released, he re- 
peated the offence, 
and lay for half a 
year in a dungeon 
at Newgate. A 
second time liber- 
ated, but desjjair- 
ing of toleration for 
Ills people in Eng- 
land, he cast his 

gaze across the Atlantic. ^\V'st Jersey was purchased ; but the boundary 
was narrow, and the great-souled proprietor sought a grander and more 
beautiful domain. His jjctition was heard mth fax'or and the charter of 
Pennsylvania granted by King Charles. Colonists came teeming; and 
now the Quaker king himself, without pomp or parade, without the dis- 
charge of cannon or vainglorious ceremony, was come to New Castle to 
found a government on the basis of fraternity and peace. It was fitting 
that he should call the new republic a holy experiment. 

As soon as the landing was effected, Penn delivered an affectionate 
and cheerful address to the crowd of Swedes, Dutcii and English who 
came to greet liim. His former pledges of a liberal and just government 
were publicly renewed, and the people were exhorted to sobriety and 
honesty. From New Ca*tle the governor ascended the Delaware to Ches- 
ter ; passed the site of Philadelphia ; visited the settlements of West New 
Jersey ; and thence traversed East Jersey to Long Island and New York. 
After spending some time at the capital of his friend, the duke of York, 




WILT.IAM PENN. 



212 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and speaking words of cheer to the Quakers about Brooklyn, he returned 
to his own province and began his duties as chief magistrate. 

Marlvliani, the deputy-governor, had been instructed to establish 
fraternal relations with the Indians. Before Penn's arrival treaties had 
been made, lands purchased, and pledges of friendship given between the 
Friends and the Red men. Now a great conference was appointed with the 
native chiefs. All the sachems of the Lenni Lenapes and other neighbor- 
ing tribes were invited to assemble. The council was held on the banks 
of the Delaware under the open sky. Penn, accompanied by a few un- 
armed friends, clad in the simple garb of the Quakers, came to the ap- 
pointed spot and took his station under a venerable elm, now leafless; for 
it was winter. The chieftains, also unarmed, sat, after the manner of 
their race, in a semicircle on the ground. It was not Penn's object to 
purchase lands, to provide for the interests of trade or to make a formal 
treaty, but rather to assure the untutored children of the woods of his 
honest purposes and brotherly affection. Standing before them with 
grave demeanor and speaking by an interpreter, he said : " My Friends: 
AV'e have met on the broad pathway of good faith. We are all one flesh 
and blood. Being brethren, no advantage shall be taken on either side, 
A\'hen disputes arise, we will settle them in council. Between us there 
shall be nothing but openness and love." The chiefs replied : " While 
the rivers run and the sun .shines we will live in peace with the children 
of William Penn." 

No record was made of the treaty, for none was needed. Its terms 
were written, not on decaying parchment, but on the living hearts of 
men. No deed ol violence or injustice ever marred the sacred covenant. 
The Indians vied with the Quakers in keeping unbroken the pledge of 
perpetual peace. For mo'' than seventy years during which the province 
remained under the control of the Friends, not a single \\ar-whoop was 
heard within the borders of Pennsylvania. The Quaker hat and coat 
proved to be a better defence for the wearer than coat-of-mail and 
musket. 

On the 4th of December, 1682, a general convention was held at 
Chester. The object was to comj)]ete the territorial legislation — a work 
which occupied three days. At the conclusion of the session, Penn de- 
livered an address to the assembly, and then hastened to the Chesapeake 
to confer with Lord Baltimore about the boundaries of their respective 
provinces. After a month's absence he returned to Chester and busied 
himself with drawing a map of his proposed capitiil. The beautiful neck 
of land between the Schuylkill and the Delaware was selected and pur- 
chased of the Swedes. In February of 1683 the native chestnuts, wal- 



PENIvSYLVANIA. 



213 




AND 



PHILADELPHIA AND VICINITY. 



nuts and allies were blazed to indicate the lines of the streets, and Phil- 
adelphia — City op Brothkrly Love — was founded. Within a 
month a general assembly was in session at the new capital. The peoj)le 
were eager that their Charter of Liberties, now to be framed, should be 
dated at Pliiladelphia. The work of 
legislation was begun and a form of 
government adopted which was essen- 
tially a representative democracy. The 
leading officers were the governor, a 
council consisting of a limited number 
of members chosen for three years, 
and a larger popular assembly, to be 
annually elected. Penn conceded 
everything to the people ; but the 
l)ower of vetoing objectionable acts of 
the council was left in his hands. 

The growth of Philadel[)]iia 
was astonishing. In the sunuuer of 
1083 there Mere only tliree or four 

houses. The ground-squirrels still lived in their burrows, and the wild 
deer ran through the town without alariu. In 1685 the city contained 
six hundred houses ; the schoolmaster had come and the printing-press 
had begun its work. In another year Philadelphia had outgrown Xew 
York. Penn's work of establishing a free State in America had been 
Avell and nobly done. In August of 1684 he took an affectionate fare- 
^vell of his flourisliing colony, and .sailed for England. Thomas Lloyd 
was appointed as president during the absence of the proprietor, and five 
commissioners, members of the jirovincial council, were chosen to assist 
ill the government. 

Notiiing occurred to disturb the jieace of Pennsylvania until the 
secession of Delaware in 1691. The three lower counties, which, ever 
since the arrival of Penn, had been united on terms of equality with the 
six counties of Pennsylvania, became dissatisfied with some acts of the 
general assembly and insisted on a separation. The proprietor gave a 
reluctant consent ; Delaware withdrew from the union and received a 
separate deputy-governor. Such was the condition of a&airs after the 
abdication of King James II. 

William Penn was a friend and fiivorite of the Stuart kings. It 
was from Charles II. that he had received the charter of Pennsylvania. 
Now that the i-oyal house was overthrown, he sympathized'with the fallen 
'uonarch and looked with coldness on the new sovereigns, William and 



214 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mary. For some real or supposed adherence to the cause of the exiled 
James II., Penn was several times arrested and imprisoned. In 1692 
his proprietary rights were taken away, and In- a royal commission tlie 
government of Pennsylvania was transferred to Fletcher of New York. 
In the following year Delaware shared the same fate ; all the provinces 
between Connecticut and Maryland -were consolidated under Fletcher's 
authority. In the mean time, tiie suspicions against Pcnn's loyalty were 
found to be groundless, and he was restored to his rights as governor of 
Pennsylvania. 

In December of 1699, Penn again visited his American common- 
wealth, now grown into a State. Tlie prosperity of the province v,as all 
that could 1)6 desired ; but the people were somewhat dissatisfied with the 
forms of goveriuncnt. The lower counties were again embittered against 
the acts of the assembly. In order to restore peace and harmony, the 
benevolent proprietor drew up another constitution, more liberal than the 
first, extending the powers of tlie people and omitting the objectionable 
features of the tbrmer charter. But Delaware had fallen into chronic 
discontent, and would not accept the new frame of government. In 1702 
the general assemblies of the two pro\'inccs were convened a[)art; and in 
the following year Delaware and Pennsylvania were finally separated. 
But the rights of Penn as proprietor of the whole territory remained as 
before, and a connnon governor continued to ])reside over both colonies. 

'^ In the winter of 1701, William Penn bade a final adieu to his 
friends in America and returned to England. He left Pennsylvania 
in a state of peace and prosperity. \ Though there was not a single fort 
within her borders, the i)rovince had been secure against invasion. 
With neither police nor militia, the people went abroad in safety. 
Witli HO difference in rank, no ]>reference in matters of opinion, and 
no proscription for religion's sake, the colony flourished and waxed 
strong. But the English ministers had now formed the design of 
abolishing all the proprietary governments, with a view to the estab- 
lishment of royal governments instead. The presence and influence 
of Penn were especially required in England in order to prevent the 
success of the ministerial scheme. After much controversy his rights 
were recognized and secured against encroachment. In the mean 
time, the affiiirs of Pennsylvania were administered by the deputy- 
governors, Andrew Hamilton and John Evans. The latter, a worldly 
sort of man, not very faithful to the principles of the Friends, greatly 
troubled the province by purchasing warlike stores, building forts, 
ani attempting' to organizi' a regiment of militia. The assembly en- 
tered a strong protest against these proceedings, so irreconcilable with 



PENNSYLVANIA. ^15 

the policy of the Quakers, and in 1708 Evans was removed from 
office. After him Charles Gookin received a commission as dep- 
uty-governor and entered upon his administration in 1709. Soon 
afterwards Penu was well-nigh overwhelmed by the rascality of his 
English agent, Ford, who first involved him in debt and then had 
him imprisoned. From a shameful confinement of many months ho 
was finally released, and his old age was brightened by a gleam of 
prosperity. But the end of his labors Avas at hand. In July of 1718 
the magnanimous founder of Pennsylvania sank to his final rest. His 
estates, vast and valuable, but much encumbered witli debt, were be- 
queathed to his three sons, John, Thomas and Richard, who thus be- 
came proprietors of Pennsylvania. By them, or their deputies, the 
province was governed until the American Revolution. In the year 
1779 the entire claims of the Penn family to the soil and jurisdiction 
of the State were purchased by the legislature of Pennsylvania for a 
hundred and thirty thousand pounds sterling. 

The colonial history of the State founded by William Penn and 
the Quakers is one of special interest and pleasure. It is a narrative 
that recounts the victories of peace and the triumph of the nobler 
virtues over violence and wrong. It is doubtful whether the history 
of any other colony in the world is touched with so many traits of 
innocence and truth. When the nations grow mercenary and the 
times seem full of fraud, the early annals of Pennsylvania may well 
be recited as a perpetual protest against the seeming success of evil. 
"I will found a free colony for all mankind," were the words of 
Williani Penn. How well his work was done shall be fitly told 
when the bells of his capital city shall ring out the first glad notes 
of American Independence. 



COLONIAL HLSTORY.— Continued. 

MINOR SOUTHERN COLONIES. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

MARYLAND. 

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH was the first whito man to explore the 
Chesapeake and its tributaries. After him, in 1621, William Clay- 
borne, a resolute and daring English surveyor, was sent out by the 
London Company to make a map of the country about the head-waters 
of the bay. By the second charter of Virginia the territory of that 
province had been extended on the north to the forty-first parallel of 
latitude. All of the present State of Maryland wa-s included in this 
enlargement, which also embraced the whole of Delaware and the greater 
part of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The ambition of Virginia was 
greatly excited by the jjossession of this vast domain; to explore and 
occupy it was an enterprise of the highest importance. 

Clayborne was a member of the council of Virginia, and secretary 
of state in that colony. In May of 1631 he received a royal commission 
authorizing him to discover the sources of the Chesapeake Bay, to survey 
the country as far as the forty-first degree of latitude, to establish a trade 
with the Indians, and to exercise the right of government over the com- 
panions of his voyage. This commission was confirmed by Governor 
Harvey of Virginia, and in the spring of the following year Clayborne 
began his imjjortant and arduous Mork. The members of the London 
Company were already gathering imaginaiy riches from the immense fur- 
trade of the Potomac and the Susquehanna. 

The enterprise of Clayborne was attended with success. A trading- 
post was established on Kent Island, and anoth'T at the head of tlie bay, 
in the vicinity of Havre de Grace. The many rivers that fall into the 
Chesapeake were again explored and a trade opened with the natives. 
The limits of Virginia were about to be extended to the borders of New 

Netherland. But in the mean time, a train of circumstances had been 

(216) 



MARYLAND. 



217 



prei^ared in England by which the destiny of several American provinces 
was completely changed. As in many other instances, religious perse- 
cution again contributed to lay the foundation of a new State in the 
wilderness. And Sir George Calvert, of Yorkshire, was the man who 
was destined to become the founder. Born in 1580 ; educated at Oxford; 
a man of mucii travel and vast experience ; an ardent and devoted Cath- 
olic; a friend of hu- 
manity ; honored with 
kniofhthood, and after- 
ward with an Irish 
peerage and the title 
of Lord Baltimore, 
— he now in middle 
life turned aside from 
the dignities of rank 
and affluence to devote 
the energies of his life 
to the Avelfare of the 
oppressed. For the 
Catholics of England, 
as well as the dissent- 
ing Protestants, were 
afflicted with many 
and bitter persecu- 
tions. 

Lord Baltimore's 
first American enter- 
LORD BALTIMORE. pfisc was thc planting 

of a Catholic colony 
ill Newfoundland. King James, who was not unfriendly to the Roman 
Church, had granted him a patent for the southern j^romontory of the 
island; and here, in 1623, a refuge was established for distressed Cath- 
olics. But in such a place no colony could be successful. The district 
was narrow, cheerless, desolate. Profitable industry was impossible. 
French ships hovered around the coa.st and captured the English fishing- 
boats. It became evident that the settlement must be removed, and Lord 
Baltimore wisely turned his attention to the sunny country of the Ches- 
apeake. 

In 1629 he made a visit to Virginia. The general assembly offered 
him citizenship on condition that he Mould take an oath of allegiance; 
but the oath was of such a sort as no honest Catholic could subscribe to. 




218 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In vain did Sir George plead for toleration • the as.sembly was inexorable. 
It was on the i)art of the Virginians a short-sighted and ruinoas policy. 
For the London Company had already been dissolved ; the king might 
therefore rightfully regrant that vast territory north of the Potomac 
which by tiie terms of the second charter had been given to Virginia. 
Lord Baltimore left the narrow-minded legislatoi-s, returned to London 
himself drew up a charter for a new State on the Chesapeake, and ea.sily 
induced his friend, King Charles I., to sign it. The Virginians had 
saved their religion and lost a province. 

The territory embraced by the new patent was bounded by the 
ocean, by the fortieth parallel of latitude, by a line drawn due south from 
that parallel to the most western fountain of tlie Potomac, by the river 
itself from its source to the bay, and by a line running due east from the 
mouth of the river to the Atlantic. The domain included the whole of 
the present States of Maryland and Delaware and a large ])art of Penn- 
sylvania and New Jersey. Here it was the purpose of the magnanimous 
proprietor to establish an asylum for all the afflicted of his own faith, and 
to plant a State on the broad basis of religious toleration and popular lib- 
erty. The provisions of the charter were the most liberal and ample whi< h 
had ever received the sanction of the English government. Christianity 
was declared to be the religion of the State, but no preference was given 
to any sect or creed. The lives and property of the colonists were care- 
fully guarded. Free trade was declared to be the law of the province, 
and arbitrary taxation was forbidden. The rights of the proprietor ex- 
tended only to tlie free a})pointment of the officers of his government. The 
power of making and amending the laws was conceded to the freemen of 
the colony or their representatives. 

One calamity darkened the prospect. Before the liberal patent could 
receive the seal of State Sir George Calvert died. His title and estates 
descended to his son Cecil ; and to him, on the 20th of June, 1632, the 
charter which had been intended for his noble father was finally issued. 
In honor of Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. of France and 
wife of Charles I., the name of Maryland was conferred on the new 
province. Independence of Virginia was guaranteed in the constitution 
of the colony, and no danger w.os to be antici])ate(l from the feeble forces 
of New Netherland. It only remained for the younger Lord Baltimore 
to raise a company of emigrants and carry out his father's benevolent 
designs. The work went forward slowly, and it was not until November 
of 1633 that a colony numbenng two hundred persons could be collected. 
Meanwhile, Cecil Calvert had abandoned the idea of coming in person to 
Ameriea, and had appointed his brother Leonard to accompany the col- 



MARYLAND. 219 

onists to their destination, and to act as deputy-governor of the new 
province. 

In March of the following year tlie immigrants arrived at Old 
Point Comfort. Leonard Calvert bore a letter from Kins Charles to 
Governor Harvey of Virginia, commanding him to receive the new- 
comers with courtesy and favor. The order was complied with ; but the 
Virginians could look only with intense jealousy on a movement which 
must soon deprive them of the rich fur-trade of the Chesapeake. The 
colonists proceeded up the bay and entered the Potomac. At the mouth 
of Piscataway Creek, nearly opposite Mount Vernon, the pinnace was 
moored, and a cross was set up on an island. On the present site of Fort 
Washington there was an Indian village whose inhabitants came out to 
meet the English. A conference was held, and the sachem of the nation 
told Leonard Calvert in words of dubious meaning that he and his colony 
miffht stay or go just as they pleased. Considering this answer as a 
menace, and deeming it imprudent to plant his first settlement so far up 
the river, Calvert again embarked with his companions, and dropped down 
stream to the mouth of the St. Mary's, within fifteen miles of the bay. 
Ascending the estuary for about ten miles, he came to an Indian town. 
The natives had been beaten in battle by the Su.squehannas, and were on 
the eve of migrating into the interior. The village was already half 
deserted. With the consent of the Red men, the English moved into the 
vacant huts. The rest of the town was purchased, with the adjacent ter- 
ritory, the Indians promising to give possession at the opening of the 
spring. The name of St. Mary's was given to this the oldest colony of 
Marj-land, and the name of the river was changed to St. George's. 

Calvert treated the natives with great liberality. The consequence 
was that the settlers had peace and plenty. The Indian women taught 
the wives of the English how to make corn-bread, and the friendly war- 
riors instructed the colonists in the mysteries of hunting. Game was 
abundant. The lands adjacent to the village were already under cultiva- 
tion. The settlers had little to do but to plant their gardens and fields 
and wait for the coming harvest. There was neither anxiety nor want. 
The dream of Sir George Calvert was realized. Within six months the 
3olony of St. Mary's had grown into greater prosperity than the settle- 
ment at Jamestown had reached in as many years. Best of all, the pledge 
of civil liberty and religious toleration was redeemed to the letter. Two 
years before the founding of Rhode Island the Catholics of the Ches- 
apeake had emancipated the human conscience, built an asylum for the 
distressed, and laid the foundations of a free State. 

Within less than a year after the founding of St. Mary's the free- 



220 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

men were convened in a general assembly. In February of 1635 the 
Mork of colonial legislation was first begun. The records of this and 
several succeeding sessions were destroyed in the rebellion of 1645, 
and not much is known concerning the character of the earliest laws. 
But it is certain that the province was involved in difficulty For Clay- 
borne still stood his ground on Kent Island, and openly resisted Lord 
Baltimore's authority. His settlement on the island was almost as strong 
as the colony at St. Mary's; and Claybornc, unscrupulous as to the 
right, and confident in his power, resolved to appeal to arms. In 1637 
a bloody skirmish occurred on the banks of the river Wicomico, on the 
eastern shore of the bay. Several lives were lost, but the insurgents were 
defeated. Calvert's forces proceeded to Kent Island, overpowered the 
settlement, and executed one or two persons who had participated in the 
rebellion. 

Claybornc, in the mean time, had escaped into Virginia. The 
assembly of Maryland demanded the fugitive; but the governor refused, 
and sent the j)risoner to England for trial. The legislators of St. Mary's 
charged the absent criminal with murder and piracy, tried him, con- 
demned him and confiscated his estates. Claybornc, who was safe in 
England, appealed to the king. The cause was heard by a eonmiittee of 
Parliament, and it was decided that the commission of Claybornc, which 
was only a license to trade in the Chesapeake, had been annulled by the 
dissolution of the London Company, and that the charter of Lord Balti- 
more was valid against all opposing claimants. Claybornc, however, was 
allowed to go at large. 

In 1639 a regular representative government was established in 
Maryland. Hitherto a system of popular dcnioci'acy had prevailed in the 
province ; each freeman had been allowed a vote in determining the laws. 
With the growth of the colony it was deemed expedient to substitirte the 
more convenient method of representation. When the delegates came 
together, a declaration of rights was adopted, and the prerogative of the 
])roprietor more clearl)- defined. All the broad and liberal principles of 
the colonial patent were reaffirmed. The powers of the assembly were 
made coextensive w^ith those of the House of Commons in England. 
The I'ights of citizenship were declared to Ije identical with those of Eng- 
lish subjects in the mother country. 

The Indians of Maryland and Virginia had now grown jealous of 
foreign encroachments. Vague rumoi's of the English Revolution had 
been borne to the Red men, and they believed themselves able to expel 
the intruders from the country. In 1642 hostilities were begun on the 
Potomac, and for two years the province was involved in war. But the 



3IAEYLAND. 221 

settlements of Maryland were few and compact, and no great suffering 
was occasioned by the onsets of the barbarians. In 1644 the savages 
agreed to bury the hatchet and to renew the broken pledges of friendship. 
Hardly, however, had the echo of Indian warfare died awav, when the 
colony was visited with a woi-se calamity by the return of its old enemy, 
William Clayborne. 

He came to find revenge, and found it. The king was now at 
war with his subjects, and could give no aid to the proprietor of an 
American province. Clayborne saw his opportunity, hurried to Mary- 
land, and raised the standard of rebellion. Arriving in the province in 
1644, he began to sow the seeds of sedition by telling the restless and 
lawless spirits of the colony that they were wronged and oppressed by a 
usurping government. Early in 1645 an insurrection broke out. Com- 
panies of desperate men came together, and found in Clayborne a natural 
leader. The government of Leonard Calvert wa.s overthrown, and the 
governor oitligod to fly for his life. Escajnng from the province, he found 
refuge and protection with Sir William Berkeley of Virginia. Clayborne 
seized the colonial records of Marylanil, and destroyed them. One act of 
violence followed another. The government was usurped, and for more 
than a year the colony was under the dominion of the insurgents. Mean- 
while, however, Governor Calvert collected his forces, returned to the 
province, defeated the rebels, and in August of 1646 succeeded in restor- 
ing his authority. It marks the mild and humane spirit of the Calverts 
that those engaged in this unjustifiable insurrection were ijardoned by a 
general amnesty. 

The acts of the provincial legislature in 1649 were of special im- 
portance. It was enacted in broad terms that no person believing in the 
fundamental doctrines of Christianity should, on account of his religious 
opinions or practices, be in any wise distressed within the bordei-s of 
Maryland. It was declared a finable offence for citizens to apply to each 
other the opprobrious names used in religious controversy. Freedom of 
conscience was reiterated with a distinctness that could not be misunder- 
stood. While Massachusetts was attempting by proscription to establish 
Puritanism as the faith of ISTew England, and while the Ejjiscopalians of 
Jamestown were endeavoring by exclusive legislation to make the Church 
of England the Church of Virginia, Maiyland was joining with Rhode 
Island and Connecticut in proclaiming religioas freedom. It sometimes 
happened in those days that Protestants escaping from Protestants found 
an asylum M-ith the Catholic colonists of the Chesapeake. 

In 1650 the legislative body of Maryland was divided into two 
branches. The upper house consisted of the governor and members of 



222 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

his council appointed hy tlie proprietor. The lower house, or general 
assembly, was composed of burgesses elected b}' the people of the province. 
Again the rights of Lord Baltimore were carefully defined by provincial 
law. An act was also passed declaring that no taxes should be levied 
without the consent of the asseml^ly. Such was the condition of affairs 
in the colon)- when the commonwealth was established iu England. Par- 
liament was now the supreme power in the mother country, and it could 
hardly be expected that Lord Baltimore's charter would be allowed to 
stand. 

In 1651 parliamentary commissioners were appointed to come to 
America and assume control of the colonies bordering on the Chesapeake. 
Clayborne was a member of the body thus appointed, ^^'hen the com- 
missioners arrived in Maryland, Stone, the deputy of Lord Baltimore, 
was deposed from office. A cf)ni]iromise M'as presently effected betweeu 
the adherents of the proprietor and the opposing faction ; and in June of 
the following year, Stone, with three members of his council, was jjer- 
mitted to resume the government. In April of 1653 the Long Par- 
liament, by whose authority the commissioners had been appointed, -was 
dissolved. Stone thereupon published a proclamation declaring that the 
recent interference of Clayborne and his associates had been a rebellious 
usurpation. Clayborne, enraged at this proclamation, collected a force in 
Virginia, returned into Maryland, again drove Stone out of office, and 
entrusted the government to ten commissioners appointed by himself. 

The Puritan and republican party in Maryland had now grown 
sufficiently strong to defy the j)roj)rictor and the Catholics. A Protestant 
assembly was convened at Patuxent in October of 1654. The first act 
was to aciknowledge the supremacy of Cromwell ; the next to disfranchise 
the Catholics and to deprive them of the protection of the laws. The un- 
grateful representatives seemed to forget that if Lord Baltimore had been 
equally intolerant not one of them would have had even a residence 
within the limits of Maryland. It would be difficult to find a more 
odious ])iece of legislation than that of the assembly at Patuxent. Of 
course the Catholic party would not sutimit to a code by which they were 
virtually banished from their own province. 

Civil war ensued. Governor Stone organized and armed the 
militia, seized the records of the colony, and marched against the oppos- 
ing forces. A decisive battle was fought just across the estuary from the 
present site of Annajiolis. The Catholics were defeated, with a loss of 
fifty men in killed and wounded. Stone himself was taken prisoner, and 
was only saved from death by the personal friendshi]> of some of the in- 
surgents. Tliree of the Catholic leaders were tried by a court-martial 



MARYLAND. 223 

and executed. Cromwell paid but little attention to these atrocities, and 
made no effort to sustain the government of Lord Baltimore. 

In 1656 Josias Fendall, a weak and impetuous man, was sent out 
by the proprietor as governor of the province. There was now a Cath- 
olic insurrection with Fendall at the head. For two years the govern- 
ment was divided, the Catliolies exercising authority at St. JMaiy's, and 
the Protestants at Leonardstown. At length, in March of 1658, a com- 
promise was effected; Fendall was acknowledged as governor, and the 
acts of the recent Protestant assemblies were recognized as valid. A gen- 
eral amnesty was published, and the colony was again at peace. 

When the death of Cromwell was announced in Maryland, the 
provincial authorities were much perplexed. One of four courses miglit 
be pursued : Richard Cromwell might be recognized as protector; Charles 
II. might be proclaimed as king; Lord Baltimore might be acknowledged 
as hereditary proprietor ; colonial independence might be declared. The 
latter policy was adopted by the assembly. On the 12th of March, 1660, 
the rights of Lord Baltimore were formally set aside ; the provincial 
council was dissolved, and the whole power of government was a.ssumed 
by the House of Burgesses. The act of independence was adopted just 
one day before a similar resolution was passed by the general assembly of 
Virginia. The population of IVIaryland had now reached ten thousand. 

On the restoration of monarchy tlie rights of the Baltimores were 
again recognized, and Philip Calvert was sent out as deputy-governor. In 
the mean time, Fendall had resigned his trust as agent of tlie proprietor, 
and had accepted an election by the people. He was now repaid for his 
double-dealing with an arrest, a trial and a condemnation on a charge 
of treason. Nothing saved his life but the clemency of Lord Baltimore, 
who, with his customary magnanimity, proclaimed a general pardon. 

Sir Cecil Calvert died in 1675, and his son Charles, a young man 
who had inherited the virtues of the illustrious family, succeeded to the 
estates and title of Baltimore. For sixteen years he exercised tlie rights 
of proprietary governor of Maryland. The laws of the ]H'ovince were 
carefully revised, and the liberal principles of the original charter re- 
affirmed as the basis of the State. Only once during this jjeriod was the 
happiness of the colony disturbed. When the news arrived of the abdi- 
cation of King James II., the deputy of Lord Baltimore hesitated to 
acknowledge the new sovereigns, William and Mary. An absurd rumor 
was spread abroad that the Catholics had leagued with the Indians for 
the purpose of destroying the Protestants of Maryland in a general mas- 
sacre. An opposing force w:ls organized ; and in 1689 the Catholic party 
was compelled to surrender the government. For two years the Protest- 



224 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

auts lield tlie province, and civil authority was exercised by a body called 
the Convention of Associates. 

Ou the 1st day of June, 1*391, the government of Maryland M'as 
revolutionized by the act of King William. The charter of Lord Balti- 
more was arbitrarily taken away, and a ro}-al governcjr appointed over the 
province. Sir Lionel Copley received a connnission, and assumed the 
government in 1692. Every vestige of the old patent was swept away. 
The Episcopal Church was establishe<l Ijy law and su])p(irted by taxation. 
Religious toleration was abolished and the government administered oa 
despotic principles. This condition of affairs continued until 1715, when 
Queen Anne was indu'cd to restore the heir of I^ord Baltimore to the 
rights of his ancestor. jNIar^land again became a proprietary government 
under the authority of the Calverts, and so remained until the Revolu- 
tionary war. 

The early history of the colony planted by the first Lord Balti- 
more on the shores of the Chesapeake is full of profitable iiLstruction. In 
no other American province were the essential vices of intolerance more 
clearly manifested ; in no other did the principle of religious freedom 
shine with a brighter lustre. Nor will the thoughtful student fail to 
observe how the severe dogmas of Catholicism were softened down when 
brought into contact with the ennoliling virtues of the Calverts, until over 
river and bav and shore a mellow liy-ht was diffused like a halo shining 
li'om the altars of the ancient Church. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
NORTH CAROLINA. 



THE first effort to colonize North Carolina was made by Sir Walter 
Raleigh. In 16.30 an inuuense tract lying between the thirtieth and 
the thirty-sixth parallels of latitude was granted by King Charles to Sii- 
Robert Heath. But neither the proprietor nor his successor, Lord Mal- 
travers, succeeded in planting a colony. After a useless existence of 
thirty-three years, the patent was revoked by the English sovereign. The 
only effect of Sir Robert's charter was to perpetuate the name of Carouna, 
which had been given to the country by John Ribault in 1-562. 

In the year 1622 the country as far south as the river Chowan waa 



NORTH CAROLINA. 225 

explored by Por}^, the secretary of Virginia. Twenty years later a com- 
pany of Virginians obtained leave of the assembly to prosecute discover}- 
on the lower Roanoke and establish a trade with the natives. The first 
actual settlement was made near the mouth of the Chowan about the year 
1651. The country was visited just afterward by Clayborne of Maryland, 
nnd in 1661 a company of Puritans from New England passed down the 
coast, entei'cd the mouth of Cape Fear River, purchased lauds of the 
Indians and established a colony on Oldtown Creek, nearly two hundred 
miles farther south than any other English settlement. In 1663 Lord 
Clarendon, General Monk, who was now honored with the title of duke 
of Albemarle, and six other noblemen, received at the hands of Charles 
II. a patent for all the country between the thirty-sixth parallel and the 
river St. John's, in Florida. With this grant the colonial history of 
North Carolina properly begins. 

In the same year a civil government was organized by the settlers 
on the Chowan. William Drummond was chosen governor, and the 
name of Albemarle County Colony was given to the district border- 
ing on the sound. In 1665 it was found that the settlement was north 
of the thirt)'-sixth parallel, and consequently beyond the limits of the 
province. To remedy this defect the grant was extended on the north to 
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, the present boundary of Virginia, 
and westward to the Pacific. During the same year the little Puritan 
colony on Cape Fear River was broken n\) by the Indians ; but scarcely 
had tliis been done when the site of the settlement, with thirty-two miles 
square of the surrounding territory, was purchased by a company of 
planters from Barbadoes. A new county named Clarendon was laid 
out, and Sir John Yeamans elected governor of the colony. The pro- 
prietors favored the settlement ; immigration was rapid ; and within a year 
eight hundred people had settled along the river. 

The work of preparing a frame of government for the new province 
was assigned to Sir Ashley Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury. The proprietors, 
not without reason, looked forward to the time when a jjowerful nation 
should arise within the bordei-s of their vast domain. To draft a suitable 
constitution was deemed a work of the greatest importance. Shaftesbury 
was a brilliant and versatile statesman who had entire confidence in his 
abilities ; but in order to give complete assurance of perfection in the 
proposed statutes, the philosopher John Locke was employed by Sir 
Ashley and his associates to prepare the constitution. The legislation of 
the world furnishes no parallel for the pompous absurdity of Locke's 
performance. 

From March until July of 1669 the philosopher worked away in 

15 



226 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the preparation of his Grand Model ; thcu the mighty instrument was 
done, and signed. It contained a hundred and twenty articles, called the 
" Fundamental Constitutions ;" and this was but the beginning of the im- 
perial scheme which wa> to stand like a colossus over the huts and pas- 
tures along the Cape Fear and Chowan Rivers. The empire of Carolina 
Avas divided into vast districts of four hundred and eighty thousand acres 
each. Political rights were made dependent upon hereditary wealth. 
The offices were put beyond the reach of the people. There were two 
grand orders of nobility. There M'ere dukes, earls and marquises; 
knights, lords and esquires; baronial courts, heraldic ceremony, and 
eveiy sort of feudal nonsense that the human imagination could conceive 
of. And this was the magnificent constitution which a great statesman 
and a wise philosopher had planned for the government of a few colonists 
who lived on venison and potatoes and paid their debts with tobacco ! 

It was one thing to make the grand model, and another thing to get 
it across the Atlantic. In this the proprietors never succeeded. All at- 
tempts to establish the pompous scheme of government ended in necessary 
failure. The settlers of Albemarle and Clarendon had meanwhile learned 
to govern themselves after the simple manner of pioneers, and they could 
but regard the model and its authors with disdainful contempt. After 
twenty years of fruitless effort, Shaftesbury and his associates folded up 
their grand constitution and concluded that an empire in the pine forests 
of North Carolina was impossible. 

The soil of Clarendon county was little better than a desert. For a 
while a trade in staves and furs supplied a profitable industry ; but when 
this traffic was exhausted, the colonists began to remove to other settle- 
ments. In 1671, Governor Yeamans was transferred to the colony which 
had been founded in the previous year at the mouth of Ashley River, and 
before the year 1690 the whole county of Clarendon was a second time 
surrendered to the native tribes. The settlement north of Albemarle 
Sound was more prosperous, but civil dissension greatly retarded the 
development of the country. 

For the proj)rietors were alreadj- busy trying to establish their big in- 
stitutions in the feeble province. The humble commerce of the colony was 
burdened with an odious duty. Every pound of the eight hundred hogs- 
heads of tobacco annually produced was taxed a penny for the benefit of 
the government. There were at this time less than four thousand people 
in North Carolina, and yet the traffic of these poor settlers with New 
England alone was so M'eighcd down with duties as to yield an annual 
revenue of twelve thousand dollars. INIillcr, the governor, was a hareh 
and violent man. A gloomy opposition to the proprietary government 



l^ORTH CAROLINA. 227 

pervafled the colon)'; and when, in 1676, large numbers of refugees from 
Virginia — patriots who had fought in Bacon's rebellion — arrived in the 
Chowan, the spirit of discontent was kindled into ojien resistance. 

The arrival of a merchant-ship from Boston and an attempt to en- 
force the revenue laws furnished the occasion and jjretext of an insurrec- 
tion. The vessel evaded the payment of duty, and wa.*- declared a smug- 
gler. But the j^eople ilew to arms, seized the governor and six members 
of hLs council, overturned the existing order of things and established a 
new government of their own. John Culpejjper, tlie leader of the insur- 
gents, was chosen governor; other officers were elected by the people; and 
in a few weeks tlie colony -B-aEj as tranquil as if Locke's grand model had 
never been heard of. But in the next year, 1679, the imprisoned ]\Iil- 
ler and his associates escaped from confinement, and going to London 
told a dolorous story about their wrongs and sufferings. The English 
lords of trade took the matter in hand, and it seemed that North CaroHna 
was doomed to punishment. 

But the colonists were awake to their interests. Governor Cul- 
pepper went boldly to England to defend himself and to justifv the rebel- 
lion. He was seized, indicted for high treason, tried and acquitted by a 
jury of Englishmen. It marks a peculiar feature of this cause that the 
sagacious earl of Shaftesbury came forward at the trial and spoke in do- 
fence of the prisoner. But Lord Clarendon was so mucii vexed at th'' 
acquittal of the rebellious governor that he sold his rights as proprietor tc 
the infamous Seth Sothel. This man in 1680 was sent out by his associ- 
ates as governor of the province. In crossing the ocean he was captured 
by a band of pirates, and for three years the colony was saved from his 
evil presence. At last, in 1683, he arrived in Carolina and began his 
M'ork, which consisted in oppressing the people and defrauding the ])ro- 
prietors. Cranfield of New Hampshire, Cornbury of New York and 
Wingfield of Virginia were all respectable men in comparison with Sothel, 
whose sordid passions have made him notorious as the woret colonial gov- 
ernor that ever plundered an American province. After five years of 
avaricious tyranny, the base, gold-gathering, justice-despising despot was 
overthrown in an insurrection. Finding himself a prisoner, and fearing 
the wrath of the defrauded proprietors more than he feared the indigna- 
tion of the outraged colonists, he begged to be tried by the assembly of 
the province. The request was granted, and the culprit escaped with a 
sentence of disfranchisement and a twelve months' exile from North 
Carolina. 

Sothel was succeeded in the governorsliip by Ludwell, who arrived 
in 1689. His administration of six years' duration was a period of peace 



228 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and contentment. The wrongs of his predecessor wei-e corrected as far as 
possible by a just and liumane chief magistrate. In 1695 came Sir Jolin 
Archdale, another of the proprietors, the rival of Ludwell in prudence 
anil integrity. Then followed the tranquil administration of Governor 
Henderson Walker; then, in 1704, the foolish attempt of Robert Daniel 
to establish the Church of England. In the mean time, the colony had 
grown strong in population and resources. The country south of the 
Roanoke began to be dotted with farms and hamlets. Other settlei-s 
came from Virginia and Maryland. Quakers came from New England 
and the Delaware. A band of French Huguenots came in 1707. A 
hundred families of German refugees, buffeted with war and pei'secutiou, 
left the banks of the Rhine to find a home on the banks of the Neuse. 
Peasants from Switzerland came and founded New Berne at the mouth 
of the River Trent. 

The Indians of North Carolina had gradually wasted away. Pes- 
tilence and strong drink had reduced jjowerful tribes to a shadow. Some 
nations were already extinct ; others, out of thousands of strong-limbed 
warriors, had only a dozen men remaining. The lands of the savages had 
passed to the whites, sometimes by purchase, sometimes by fraud, often 
by forcible occupation. The natives were jealous and revengeful, but 
weak. Of all the nn"ghty tribes that had inhabited the Carolinas in the 
days of Sir Walter Raleigh, only the Coreas and the Tuscaroras Mere 
still formidable. The time had come when these unhappy nations, like 
the rest of their race, were doomed to destruction. The conflict which 
ended, and could only end, in the ruin of the Red men, began in the ye;ir 
1711. 

In September of this year, Lawson, the surveyor-general of North 
Carolina, ascended the Ncuse to explore and map the country. The In- 
dians were alarmed at the threatened encroachment upon their 1 territory. 
A band of warriors took Lawson prisoner, led liim before their council, 
condemned him and burned him to death. On the night of the 22d, com- 
panies of savages rose out of the woods, fell upon the scattered settlements 
between the Roanoke and Pamlico Sound, and murdered a hundred and 
thirty persons. Civil dissension prevented the colonial authorities from 
adopting vigorous measures of defence. The jirotection of the people 
and the punishment of the barbarians were left to the neighboring prov- 
inces. Spottswood, governor of Virginia, made some unsuccessful efforts 
to render assistance, and Colonel Barnwell came from South Carolina Avit 1' 
a company of militia and a body of friendly Cherokees, Creeks and Cataw- 
bas. The savages were driven into their fort in the northern part of 
Craven comity, but could not be dislodged. A\'hile affairs wei-e in this 



NORTH CAROLINA. 229 

condition a trcatj' of peace was made ; but Barnwell's men, on their way 
homeward, violated the compact, sacked an Indian village and made 
elaves of the inhabitants. The war was at once renewed. 

In September of the next year, while the conflict was yet unde- 
cided, the yellow fever broke out in the country south of Pamlico Sound. 
So dreadfal were the ravages of the pestilence that the peninsula was^ 
wellnigh swept of its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Colonel James Moore of 
South Carolina had arrived, in command of a regiment of whites and In- 
dians, and the Tuscaroras were pursued to their principal fort on Cotentnea 
Creek, in Greene county. This place was besieged until the latter part of 
March, 1713, and was then carried by assault. Eight hundred warriors 
were taken prisoners. The power of the hostile nation was broken, but 
the Tuscarora chieftains Avere divided in council ; some were desirous of 
peace, and some voted to continue the war. This difference of opinion 
led to a division of the tribe. Those who M'ished for peace were permit- 
ted to settle in a single community in the county of Hyde. Their hostile 
brethren, seeing that further resistance would be hopeless, determined to 
leave the country. In the month of June they abandoned their hunting- 
grounds made sacred by the traditions of their fathers, marched across 
Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, reached Northern New York, 
joined their kinsmen, the Oneidas, and became the sixth nation of the 
Iroquois confederacy. 

Thus far the two Carolinas had continued under a common gov- 
ernment. In 1729 a final separation was effected between the provinces 
north and south of Cape Fear River, and a royal governor appointed over 
each. In spite of Locke's grand model and the Tuscai'ora war, in spite 
of the threatened Spanish invasion of 1744, the northern colony had greatly 
prospered. The intellectual development of the people had not been as 
rapid as the gro-nth in numbers and in wealth. Little attention had been 
given to questions of religion. There was no mmister in the province 
until 1703. Two years later the first church was built. Tlie first court- 
house was erected in 1722, and the printing-press did not begin its work 
until 1754. But the people were brave and patriotic. They loved their 
countiy, and called it the Land of Summer. In the farmhouse and the 
village, along the banks of the rivers and the borders of the primeval for- 
ests, the spirit of liberty pervaded every breast. The love of freedom was 
intense, and hostility to tyranny a universal passion. In the times of 
Sothel it was said of the North Carolinans that they would not pay trib- 
ute even to Omar. 



230 HlHTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XXVTTT. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

IX January of 1670 the proprietors of Carolina sent out a colony under 
command of Joseph West and William Sayle. There was at this time 
not a single European settlement between the mouth of Cape Fear River 
and the St. John's, in Florida. Here was a beautiful coast of nearly four 
hundred miles readv to receive the beginnings of civilization. The new 
emigrants, .sailing by way of Barbadoes, steered far to the south, and 
reached the mainland in the country of the Savannah. The vessels first 
entered the harbor of Port Royal. It was now a hundred and eight years 
since John Ribault, on an island in this same harbor, had set up a .stone 
engraved with the lilies of France ; now the Entrlishman had come. 

The ships were anchored near the site of Bcaulbrt. But the colo- 
nists were dissatisfied with the appearance of the country, and did not go 
ashore. Sailing northward along the coast for forty miles, they next en- 
tered the mouth of Ashley River, and landed where the first high land 
appeared upon the southern banl^. Here wei-e laid the foundations of 
Old Charleston, so named in honor of King Charles 11. Of this, the 
oldest town in South Carolina, no trace remains except the line of a ditch 
which was digged around the fort ; a cotton-field occupies the site of the 
ancient settlement. 

Sayle had been commissioned as governor and West as commercial 
agent of the colony. The settlers had been furnished with a copy of 
Locke's big constitution, but they had no more use for it than for a dead 
elephant. Instead of the grand model, a little government was organized 
on the princij)les of common sense. Five councilors were elected by the 
people, and five others ajipointed by the jiroprietors. Over this council 
of ten the governor presided. Twenty delegates, composing a house of 
representatives, were chosen by the colonists. Within two years the .sys- 
tem of popular government was firmly established in the province. Ex- 
cept the prevalence of diseases peculiar to the southern climate, no calam- 
ity darkened the prospects of the rising State. 

In the beginning of 1671 Governor Sayle died, and West, by com- 
mon consent, assumed the duties of the vacant office. After the lapse of 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 231 

a few months, Sir John Yeamans, who had been gov^ernor of the northern 
province and was now in Barbadoes, was commissioned by the proprie- 
tors as chief magistrate of tlie southern colony. He brought with him to 
Ashley River a large cargo of African slaves. From the beginning the 
colonists had devoted themselves to planting ; but the English laborers, 
unused as yet to the climate, could hardly endure the excessive heats of the 
sultry fields. To the Caribbee negroes, already accustomed to the burn- 
ing sun of the tropics, the Carolina summer seemed temperate and pleasant. 
Thus the labor of the black man was substituted for the labor of the white 
man, and in less than two years from the founding of the colony the system 
of slavery was firmly established. In this respect the history of South 
Carolina is peculiar. Slavery had been introduced into all the American 
colonies, but everywhere else the introduction had been effected by those 
who were engaged in the slave-trade. In South Carolina alone was the 
system adojited as a political and social experiment and with a view to the 
regular establishment of a laboring class in the State. Governor Yeamans 
M'as the first to accept this policy, M'hich soon became the general j^olicy 
of the province. The importation of negroes went on so rapidly that in 
a short time they outnumbered the whites as two to one. 

Immigration from England did not lag. During the year 1671 a 
system of cheap rents and liberal bounties was adopted by the proprietors, 
and the country was rapidly filled with people. A tract of a hundred and 
fifty acres Mas granted to every one who Mould either immigrate or im- 
port a negro. Fertile lands were abundant. AVars and pestilence had 
almost annihilated the native tribes; M'hole counties M'ere almost M'ithout an 
occupant. The disasters of one race had prepared the May fir the coming 
of another. Only a iew years before this time New Netherland had been 
conquered by the English. The Dutch M^cre greatly dissatisfied with the 
government which the duke of York had established over them, and 
began to leave the country. The proprietors of Carolina sent several 
ships to New York, loaded them with the industrious but discontented 
people, and brought them Mithout expense to Charleston. The unoccupied 
lands M'cst of Ashley River M-ere divided among the Dutch, M'ho formed 
there a thriving settlement called Jamestown. The fame of the new 
country reached Holland, and other emigrants left fatherland to join their 
kinsmen in Carolina. Charles II., who rarely aided a colony, collected a 
company of Protestant refugees from the South of Europe, and sent them 
to Carolina to introduce the silk- worm and to begin the cultivation of the 
grape. 

In 1680 the present metropolis of South Carolina was founded. The 
site of Old Charleston had been hastily and injudiciously selected. The 



232 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

delightful peninsula called Oyster Point, between Ashley and Cooper 
Hivers, was now chosen as the spot on which to build a city. The erec- 
tion of thirty dwellings during the first summer gave proof of enterprise ; 
the name of Charleston was a second time bestowed, and the village 
immediately became the capital of the colony. The unhealthy climate 
for a while retarded the progress of the new town, but the people were 
lull of life and enterprise ; storehouses and wharves were built, and mer 
chant-ships soon began to throng the commodious harbor. 

Injustice provoked an Indian war. Some vagabond Nestoes, whose 
only offence consisted in strolling through the plantations, were shot. 
The tribe appealed to the government, and the proprietors showed a wil- 
lingness to punish the M'rongdoers ; but the pioneers were determined to 
fight and the savages were naturally revengeful. Scenes of violence con- 
tinued along the border, and hostilities began in earnest. In the prosecu- 
tion of the war the colonists were actuated by a shameful spirit of avarice. 
The object was not so much to jiunish or destroy the savages as to take 
them prisoners. A bountj' was oflered for every captured Indian, and as 
fast as the warriors were taken they were sold as slaves for the West In- 
dies. The petty strife continued for a year, and was then concluded with 
a treaty of peace. Commissioners were appointed, to whom all complaints 
and dis2)utes between the natives and the colonists should henceforth be 
submitted. 

South Carolina \vas favored with rapid immigration, and the immi- 
grants were worthy to become the founders of a great State. The best 
nations of Europe contributed to people the country between Cape Fear 
and the Savannah. England continued to send her colonies. In 1683 
Joseph Blake, a brother of the great English admiral, devoted his fortune 
and the last years of his life to bringing a large company of dissenters 
from Somersetshire to Charleston. In the same year an Irish colony 
under Ferguson arrived at Ashley River, and met a hearty welcome. A 
company of Scotcii Presbyterians, ten families in all, led by the excellent 
Lord Cardross, settled at Port Royal in 1684. The authorities of Charles- 
ton claimed jurisdiction there, and the new immigrants reluctantly yielded 
to the claim. Two years afterward a band of Spanish soldiers arrived 
Irom St. Augustine, and the unhappy Scotch exiles were driven from their 
homes. But intolerant France gave up more of her subjects than did all 
the other nations. 

As early as 1598 Henry IV., king of the French, had published a 
celebrated proclamation, called the Edict of Nantes, by the terms of which 
the Huguenots were protected in their rights of religious worship. Now, 
after eightv-seven years of toleration, Louis XIV., blinded with bigotry 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 23;^ 

and passion and hoping to make Catholicism universal, revoked the kindly 
edict, and exposed the Protestants of his kingdom to the long-suppressed 
rage of their enemies. In order to enforce the decree of revocation the 
French army was quartered in the towns of the Huguenots, the ports were 
closed against emigration, and the borders were watched to prevent escape. 
How foolish are the ways of despotism ! In spite of every precaution, 
five hundred thousand of the best people of France, preferring banishment 
to religious thraldom, escaped from their country and fled, self-exiled, into 
foreign lands. The Huguenots were scattered from the Baltic Sea to the 
Cape of Good Hope, and on the Western continent from Maine to Flor- 
ida. But of all the American colonies. South Carolina received the great- 
est number of French refugees within her borders. They were met by 
the projirietors with a pledge of protection and a promise of citizenship ; 
but neither promise nor pledge was immediately fulfilled, for the colony 
had not yet determined what should be its laws of naturalization. Both 
the general assembly and the proprietors claimed the right of fixing the 
conditions. Until tiiat question could be decided the Huguenots were 
kept in suspense, and were sometimes unkindly treated by tiie jealous 
English settlers. Not until 1697 were all discriminations against the 
French innnigrants removed. 

In 1686 came James Colleton as colonial governor. He began his 
administration with a foolish attemj)t to establish the mammoth constitu- 
tion of Locke and Shaftesbury. No wonder that the assembly resisteil 
his authority, and that the people were embittered against him. The rents 
came due; payment was refused, and the colony was in a state of rebellion. 
In order to divert attention from himself, Colleton jiublished a proclama- 
tion setting forth the danger of a pretended invasion by the Indians and 
Spaniards. The militia was called out and the province declared under 
martial laM'. It was all in vain. The people were only exasperated by 
the arbitrary proceedings of the governor. Tidings came that James II. 
had been driven from the throne of England. The popular assembly was 
convened, and William and Mary were proclaimed as sovereigns. In 
1690 a decree of impeachment was passed again.st Colleton, and he was 
banished from the province. 

The people of North Carolina had just performed a similar service 
for Seth Sothel. Not satisfied with his previous succe.ss, he at once re- 
paired to Charleston and assumed the government of the southern colony. 
To Sothel's other merits were added the qualifications of a first-rate dem- 
agogue ; he induced the people to acquiesce in his usurpation and to sus- 
tain his authority. But his avaricious disposition could not long be held 
in cheek. The proprietors disclaimed his acts and after a turbulent rule 



234 HISTORY OF THE UMTED STATES. 

of two years, he and his government were overthrown. One bright pag« 
redeems the record of his administration. In May of 1691 the first gen- 
eral act of enfraiiciiisement was passed in favor of the Huguenots. 

Philip Ludwell, who had been collector of customs in A'irginia, 
and since 1689 governor of North Carolina, was now sent to establish 
order in the southern ])rovince. He spent a year in a well-meant effort 
to administer the go^•ernment of the proprietors; but the people were 
fixed in their antagonism to the constitution, and nothing could be accom- 
plished. Ludwell gave up the hoj)eless task, withdrew from the prov- 
ince, and returned to Virginia. South Carolina had fallen into a condi- 
tion bortlering on anarchy. 

Nearly a quarter of a century had elapsed since Locke drafted the 
grand model. At last the ])ro})rietors came to see that the establishment 
of such a monstrous frame of government over an American colon)' was 
impossible. Pride said that the constitution should stand, for the nobility 
of England had declared it immortal. But self-interest and common 
sense demanded its abrogation, and the demand prevailed. In April of 
1693 the proprietoi-s assembled and voted the boasted model out of exist- 
ence. It was enacted at the same meeting that since the peojde of Caro- 
lina preferred a simple charter government, their request be granted. 
The magnificent paper empire of Shaftesbur}- was swept into oblivion. 

Thomas Smith was now appointed governor, but was soon super- 
.seded by John Archdale, a distinguished and talented Quaker. Arriving 
in 1695, he began an administration so just and wise that dissension ceased 
and the colony entered upon a new career of prosperity. The quit-rents 
on lands were remitted for four years. The people were given the option 
of paying their taxes in money or in produce. The Indians were concili- 
ated with kindness and protected against kidnappers. Some native Cath- 
olics were ransomed from slavery and sent to their homes in Florida, and 
the Spanish governor reciprocated the deed with a friendly message. 
When the old jealousy against the Huguenots asserted itself in the gen- 
eral assembly, the benevolent influence of Archdale procured the pa.ssage 
of a law by which all Christians, except the Catholics, were fully enfran- 
chised ; the imgenerous exception was made against the governor's will. 
It was a real misfortune to the colony when, in 1698, the good g^ivernor 
was recalled to England. 

James Moore was next commissioned as chief magistrate. The 
first important act of his administration was a declaration of hostilities 
against the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine. Queen Anne's "War had 
broken out. The Spaniards were in alliance with the French against the 
English. By the ant&gonism of England and Spain, South Carolina and 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 235 

Florida were brought into conflict. Yet a declaration of war was strong- 
ly opposed in the assembly at Charleston, and was only passed by a 
small majority. It was voted to raise and equip a force of twelve hun- 
dred men, and to invade Florida by land and water. The summer of 
1702 was spent in preparation, and in September the expeditions departed, 
the land-forces led by Colonel Daniel and tiie fleet commanded by the 
governor. 

The English vessels sailed down the coast, entered the St. John's 
and blocked up the river. Daniel marched overland, reached St. Augus- 
tine and captured the town. But tiie Spaniards withdrew without serious 
loss int<:) the castle, and bade defiance to the besiegers. Without artillery 
it was evident that the place could not be taken. Colonel Daniel was 
despatched with a sloop to Jamaica to procure cannons for the siege; but 
before his return two Spanish men-of-war appeared at the moutli of the 
St. John's, and Governor Moore found himself blockaded. His courage 
was not equal to the occasion. Abandoning liis ships, he took to tlie 
shore, and collecting his forces hastily retreated into Carolina. Daniel 
returned and entered the St. John's, but discovered the danger in time to 
make his escape. The governor's retreat occasioned great dissatisfaction. 
There were insinuations of cowardice and threats of impeachment, but 
no formal action was taken against him. The only results of the unfor- 
tunate expedition Avere debt and paper money. In order to meet the 
heavy expenses of the war, the assembly was obliged to issue bills of 
credit to the amount of six thousand poimds sterling. 

Governor Moore retrieved his reputation by invading the Indian 
nations south-\vest of the Savannaii. In December of 1705 he left the 
province at the head of fifty volunteers and a thousand friendly natives. 
White men had not been seen marching in these woods since the days of 
De Soto. On the 14th of the month the invaders reached the fortified 
town of Ayavalla, in the neighboriiood of St. Mark's. An attack was 
made and the church set on fire. A Franciscan monk came out and 
begged for mercy ; but tlie ])lace A\as carried by assault, and more than 
two -hundred prisoners were taken, only to be enslaved. On the next day 
Moore's forces met and defeated a large body of Indians and Spaniards. 
Five important towns were carried in succession, and the English flag 
was borne in triumph to the Gulf of Mexico. Communication between 
the Spanish settlements of Florida and the French posts in Louisiana 
was entirely cut off. 

Meanwhile, the Church of England had been established by law 
in South Carolina. In the first j^ear of Johnston's administration the 
High Church party succeeded in getting a majority of one in the colonial 



236 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

assembly, and immediately j)assed an aet dLsfranchi.sing all the dissenters 
in the province. \n aj)peal \\as carried to the proprietors, only to be re- 
jected with contempt. The dissenting party next laid their cause before 
Parliament, and that liody promptly voted that the act of disfranchiscmenl 
was contrary to the laws of England, and that the {iroprietors had for- 
feited their charter. The queen's ministers were authorized to declare the 
intolerant law null and void. In November of the same year the colo- 
nial legislature revoked its own act so far as the disfranchising clause was 
concerned ; but Episcopalianism continued to be the established faith of 
the province. 

The year 1706 was a stirring epoch in the history of South Caro- 
lina. A French and Spanish fleet was sent from Havana to capture 
Charleston and subdue the country. The orders were more easily given 
than executed. The brave j)eople of the capital flew to arms. Governor 
Johnson and Colonel William Rhett insjiired the volunteei'SAvith courage; 
and when the hostile squadron anchored in the harbor, the city was ready 
for a stubborn defence. Several times a landing was attemjjted, but the 
invaders were everywhere repulsed. At last a French vessel succeeded in 
getting to shore with eight hundred troops, but they were attacked with 
fury and driven off with a loss of three hundred in killed and jirisoners. 
The siege was at once abandoned ; unaided by the pro])rictors. South Car- 
olina had made a glorious defence. 

In the spring of 1715 war broke out with the Yamassees. ^\.s 
usual with their race, the Indians began hostilities with treachery. At 
the very time when Captain Xairne was among them as a friendly ambas- 
sador, the wily savages rose ujjon the frontier settlements and committed 
an atrocious massacre. The people of Port Royal were alarmed just in 
time to escape in a ship to Charleston. The desperate savages rushed on 
to within a short distance of the capital. It seemed that the city would 
be taken and the whole colony driven to destruction. But the brave 
Charles Craven, governor of the in-ovince, rallied the militia of Colleton 
district, and the blood-stained barbarians were driven back. A vigorous 
pursuit began, and the savages were pressed to the banks of the Salke- 
hatchie. Here a decisive battle was fought, and the Indians were com- 
pletely routed. The Yamassees collected their shattered tribe and retired 
into Florida, where they M'cre received by the Spaniards as friends and 
confederates. 

In 1719 the government of South Carolina was revolutionized. 
At the close of the war with the Yamassees the assembly petitioned the 
proprietors to bear a portion of the exjjense. But the avaricious noble- 
men refiised, and would take no measures for the future protection of the 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 237 

colony. The people were greatly burdened with rents and taxes. The 
lands were monopolized ; every act of the assembly which seemed for the 
public good was vetoed by the proprietors. In the new election ever}' 
delegate was chosen by the popular party. The 21st of December was 
training-day in C-harleston. On that day .James Moore, the new chief 
magistrate elected by the people, was to be inaugurated. Governor John- 
son forbade the military display and tried to prevent the inauguration ; 
but the militia collected in the public square, drums were beaten, flags 
were flung out on the forts and shipping, and before nightfall the propri- 
etary government of Carolina was overthrown. Governor Moore was 
duly inaugurated in the name of King George I. A colonial agent was 
at once sent to England ; the cause of the colonists was heard, and the 
forfeited charter of the proprietors abrogated by act of Parliament. 

Francis Nicholson was now commissioned as governor. He had 
already held the office of chief magistrate in New York, in Virginia, in 
Maryland and in Nova Scotia. He began a successful administration in 
South Carolina by concluding treaties of peace and commerce with the 
Cherokees and the Creeks. But another and final change in colonial 
affairs was now at hand. In 1729 seven of the eight proprietors of the 
Carolinas sold their entire claims in the provinces to the king. Lord 
Carteret, the eighth proprietor, would surrender nothing but his right of 
jurisdiction, reserving his share in the soil. The sum paid by King 
George for the two colonies was twenty-two thousand five hundred pounds 
sterling. Royal governors were appointed, and the affairs of the province 
were settled on a permanent basis, not to be disturbed for more than forty 
years. 

The people who colonized South Carolina were brave and chival- 
rous. On the banks of the Santee, the Edisto and the Combahee were 
gatlicred some of the best elements of the European nations. The Hu- 
guenot, the Scotch Presbyterian, the English dissenter, the loyalist and 
High Churchman, the Irish adventurer and the Dutch mechanic, com- 
posed the j)owerful material out of which soon grew the beauty and re- 
nown of the Palmetto State. Equally with the rugged Puritans of 
the North, the South Carolinians were lovers of liberty. Without the 
severe morality and formal manners of the Pilgrims, the people who were 
once governed by the peaceful Archdale and once led to war by the gallant 
Craven became the leaders in courtly politeness and high-toned honor be- 
tween man and man. In the coming struggle for freedom South Caro- 
lina will bear a noble and distinguished ]5art; the fame of the patriotic 
Rhett will be perpetuated by Marion and Sumter. 



238 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

GEORGIA. 

/~^ EORGIA, the thirteentli American colony, was founded in a spirit 
^J of pure benevolence. The laws of England jjermitted imprisonment 
for debt. Thousands of English laborers, who tiirough misfortune and 
thoughtless contracts had become indebted to the rich, were annually ar- 
rested and thrown into jail. There were desolate and starving families. 
The miserable condition of the debtor class at last attracted the attention 
of Parliament. In 1 728 a commissioner was appointed, at his own request, 
to look into the state of the jioor, to visit the prisons of the kingdom, and 
to report measures of relief. The work ^^•as accomplished, the jails were 
opened, and the poor victims of debt returned to their homes. 

The noble commissioner was not yet satisfied. For the liberated 
prisoners and their friends were disheartened and disgraced in the country 
of their birth. Was there no land beyond the sea where debt was not a 
crime, and where poverty was no disgrace ? To provide a refuge for the 
down-trodden poor of England and tiie distressed Protestants of other 
countries, the commissioner now appealed to George II. for the privilege 
of ]i]anting a colony in America. The petition was favorably heard, and 
on the 9th of June, 1732, a royal charter was issued by which the terri- 
tory between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, and westward from the 
upper fountains of those rivers to the Pacific, was organized and granted 
to a corporation for twenty-one years, to be held in trust for the poor. In 
honor of the king, the new province received the name of Georgia. 
But what was the name of that high-souled, unselfish commissioner of 
Parliament ? 

James Oglethorpe, the philanthropist. Born a loyalist, educated at 
Oxford, a High Churchman, a cavalier, a soldier, a member of Parliament, 
benevolent, generous, full of sympathy, far-sighted, brave as John Smith, 
chivalrous as De Soto, Oglethorpe gave in middle life tlie full energies of 
a vigorous body and a lofty mind to the work of building in the sunny 
South an asylum for the oppressed of his own and other lands. The 
magnanimity of the entei'prise was heightened by the fact that he did not 
believe in the equality of men, but only in the right and duty of the strong 
to protect the weak and sympathize with the lowly. To Oglethorpe, as 



GEORGIA. 



239 



principal member of the corporation, tiie leadersliip of the first colony to 
be planted on the banks of the Savannah, was naturally entrusted. 

By the mid- 
dle of November a 
hundred and twen- 
ty emigrants were 
ready to sail for 
the New World. 
Oglethorpe, like 
the elder Win- 
throp, determined 
to shai-e the dan- 
gers and hardshijis 
of his colony. In 
January of 1733 
the company was 
welcomed at 
Charleston. Pass- 
ing down the coast, 
the vessels were 
anchored f o r a 
short time at Beau- 
fort, while tlie gov- 
ernor with a few 




JAMES OGLETHOKPE. 



companions as- 
cended tiie bound- 
ary river of Georgia, and selected as the site of his settlement the high 
bluff on which now stands the city of Savannah. Here, on the 1st day of 
February, were laid the foundations of the oldest English town south of 
the Savannah River. Broad streets were laid out; a public square was 
reserved in each quarter ; a beautiful village of tents and board houses, 
built among the pine trees, appeared as the capital of a new common- 
wealth where men were not imprisoned for debt. 

Tomo-chichi, chief of the Yamaeraws, came from his cabin, half a 
mile distant, to see his brother Oglethorpe. There was a pleasant con- 
ference. " Here is a present for you," said the red man to the white man. 
The present was a buffalo robe painted on the inside with the head and 
feathers of an eagle. " Tlie feathers are soft, and signify love ; the buf- 
falo skin is the emblem of jirotection. Therefore love us and protect us," 
said the old chieftain. Such a plea could not be lost on a man like Ogle- 
thorpe. Seeing the advantages of peace, he sent an invitation to the chiefs 



240 HISTORY OF TEE UNITED STATES. 

of the Muskhogees to meet liim in a general council at his capital. The 
conference was held on the 29th of May. Long King, the sachem of 
Oconas, spoke for all the tribes of his nation. The English were wel- 
comed to the country. Bundles of buckskins, and such other good gifts 
as savage civilization could otter, were laid down jilcntifully at the feet 
of the whites. The governor and his poor but generous colony responded 
with valuable presents and \\ords of faithful friendship. The fame of 
Oglethorpe spread far and wide among the Red men. From the distant 
mountains of Tennessee came the noted chief of the Cherokees to confer 
with the humane and sweet-tempered governor of Georgia. 

The counciloi-s in England who managed the affaii*s of the new 
State encouraged emigration with every liberal offer. Swiss peasants left 
their mountains to find a home on the Savannah. Tlie plaid cloak of the 
Scotch Highlander was seen among the wigwams of the Muskhogees. 
From distant Salzburg, afiir on the l)orders of Austria, came a noble col- 
ony of German Protestants, singing their way down the Rhine and across 
the ocean. Ogletiiorpe met them at Charleston, bade them welcome, led 
them to Savannah and thence through the woods to a point twenty miles 
up the river, told them of English rights and the freedom of conscience, 
and left them to found the village of Ebenezer. 

In April of 1734, Governor Oglethorpe made a visit to England. 
His friend Tomo-chiehi went with him, and made the acquaintance of 
King George. It was said in London that no colony was ever before 
founded so wisely and well as Georgia. The councilors prohibited the 
importation of rum. Traffic with the Indians — always a dangerous mat- 
ter — was either interdicted or regulated by special license. When it came 
to the question of labor, slavery was positively forbidden. It was said 
that the introduction of slaves would be fatal to the interests of the Eng- 
lish and German laborei-s for wiioni the colony had been founded. While 
the governor was still abroad, the first company of Moravians, number- 
ing nine, and led by the evangelist Spangenberg, arrived at Savannah. 

In February of 1736, Oglethorpe himself came back with a new 
colony of three hundred. Part of these were Moravians, and nearly all 
were people of deep piety and fervent spirit. First among them — fii-st 
in zeal and first in the influence which he was destined to exert in after 
times — was the celebrated John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. 
Overflowing with religious enthusiasm, he came to Georgia, not as a poli- 
tician, not as a minister merely, but as an apostle. To lead the people to 
righteousness, to spread the gos]iel, to convert the Indians, and to intro- 
duce a new type of religion characterized by few forms and much emo- 
tion, these were the purposes that thronged his lofty fancy. He was 



GEORGIA. 241 

doomed to much disappointment. The mixed people of tiie new province 
could not be moulded to his will ; and after a residence of less than two 
years he left the colony with a troubled spirit. His brother, Charles 
Wesley, came also as a secretary to Governor Oglethorpe; but Charles 
was a poet, a timid and tender-hearted man who pined with homesickness 
and gave way under discouragement. But when, in 1738, the famous 
George AVhitefield came, his robust and daring nature proved a match for 
all the troubles of the Avilderness. He preached with fiery eloquence. 
To build an orphan-house at vSavannah he went through all the colonies ; 
and those who heard his voice could hardly refuse him money. Think- 
ing no longer of native land, ho found a peaceful grave in New England. 
Meanwhile, Oglethorpe M'as busy with the affairs of his growing 
province. Anticipating war with Spain, he began to fortifj-. For the 
Spaniards were in possession of Florida, and claimed the country as far 
north as St. Helena Sound. All of Georgia M'as thus embraced in the 
Spanish claim. But Oglethorpe had a charter for Georgia as far south 
as the Altaniaha, and he had secured by treaty with the Indians all the 
territory between that river and the St. Maiy's. In 1736 he ascended 
the Savannah and built a fort at Augusta. On the north bank of the 
Altamaha, twelve miles from its mouth, Fort Darien was built. On 
Cumberland Island, at the mouth of the St. Mary's, a fortress was erected 
and named Fort William. Proceeding down the coast with a company 
of Highlanders, the daring governor reached the mouth of the St. John's, 
and on Amelia Island built still another fort, which he named St. George. 
The river St. John's was claimed from this time forth as the southern 
boundary of Georgia. To make his preparations complete, the governor 
again visited England, and was commissioned as brigadier-general, with a 
command extending over his own province and South Carolina. In Octo- 
ber of 1737 he returned to Savannah, bringing with him a regiment of 
six hundred men. Such were the vigorous measures adopted by Ogle- 
thorpe in anticipation of a Spanish war. 

The war came. It M'as that conflict known in American history as 
King George's War. England published her declaration of hostility 
against Spain in the latter part of October, 1739. In the first week of 
the following January the impetuous Oglethorpe, at the head of the 
Georgia militia, made a dash into Florida, and captured twp fortified towns 
of the Spaniards. His plans embraced the conquest of St. Augustine and 
the entire extinction of Spanish autliority north of the Gulf of Mexico. 
Repairing to Charleston, he induced the a.ssembly to support his measures. 
By 1he first of May he found himself in command of six hundred regular 
troops, four hundred volunteers and a body of Indian auxiliaries. With 



242 



HISTORY OF THE UmTED STATES. 



this force he proceeded at once against St. Augustine. The place was 
strongly fortified, and the Spanish commandant, Monteano, was a man of 
ability and courage. The siege continued for five weeks, but ended in 
disaster to the English. For a while the town was successfully block- 
aded ; but some Spanish galleys, eluding the vigilance of Oglethorpe's 

squadron, brought a cargo of supplies 
to the garrison. The Spaniards made 
a sally, attacked a company of High- 
landers, and dispersed them. Sickness 
prevailed in the English camp. The 
general himself was enfeebled with fever 
and excitement, but he held on like a 
iiero. The troops of Carolina, disheart- 
ened and despairing of success, left their 
camp and marched homeward. The 
English vessels gathered up their crews, 
abandoned the siege and returned to 
Frederica. Oglethorpe, yielding only 
to necessity, collected his men from the 
trenches and withdrew into Georgia. 

The Spaniards now determined 
to carry the war northward and drive 
the English beyond the Savannah. The 
Combahee River should be made the 
.northern boundary of Florida. Prep- 
arations began on a vast scale. A pow- 
erful fleet of thirt>'-six vessels, carrying more than three thousand troops, 
was brought from Cuba, and anchored at St. Augustine. In June of 
1742 the squadron passed up the coast to Cumberland Island, and at- 
temjited the reduction of Fort William. But Oglethorpe by a daring 
exploit reinforced the garrison, and then fell back to Frederica. The 
Spanish vessels followed and came to anchor in the harbor of St. Simon's. 
From the southern point of the island to Frederica, Oglethorpe had cut a 
road which at one place lay between a morass and a dense forest. Along 
this path the Spaniards must pass to attack tlie town. The English gen- 
eral had only eight hundred men and a few Indian allies. In order to 
cope with superior numbers, Oglethorpe resorted to stratagem. 

A Frenchman had deserted to the Spaniards. To him the English 
general now M'rote a letter as if to a sjoy. A Spanish prisoner in Ogle- 
thorpe's hands was liberated and bribed to deliver the letter to the de- 
serter. The Frenchman was advised that two British fleets were coming 




COlTXTItY OF THK SAVANNAH, 1740. 




»iCii»Nli LN bl. AtUUSlINJi 



GEORGIA. 243 

to America, one to aid Oglethorpe and the other to attad^ St. Augustine. 
Let the Spaniards remain on tlie island but tliree days longer, and they 
would be ruined. If the enemy did not make an immediate attack on 
Frederica, his forces would be captured to a man. Oglethorpe knew very 
well that the prisoner, instead of delivering this letter to tlie deserter, 
would give it to the Spanish commander, and that the Spanish commander 
could not possibly know whether the communication was the truth or a 
fiction. This letter was delivered, and the astonished Frenchman was 
arrested as a spy, but the Spaniards could not tell whether his denial was 
true or false. There was a council of war in the Spanish camp. Ogle- 
thorpe's stratagem was suspected, but could not be proved. Three ships 
had been seen at sea that day ; perhaps these were the first vessels of the 
approaching British fleets. The Spaniards were utterly per|)Iexcd ; but 
it was finally decided to take Oglethorpe's advice, and make the attack 
on Frederica. 

The English general had foreseen that this course M'ould be adopted. 
He had accordingly advanced his small force from the town to the place 
where the road passed between the swamp and the forest. Here an am- 
buscade was formed, and the soldiers lay in wait for the approaching Span- 
iards. On the 7th of July the enemy's vanguard reached the narrow pass, 
were fired on from the thicket and driven back in confusion. The main 
body of the Spanish forces pressed on into the dangerous position where 
superior numbers were of no advantage. The Highlanders of Oglethorpe's 
regiment fired with terrible effect from the oak woods by the roadside. 
The Spaniards stood firm for a while, but were presently driven back with 
a loss of two hundred men. Not without reason the name of Bloody 
Mai-sh was given to this battle-field. Within less than a week the ^a hole 
Spanish force had re-embarked and sailed for Florida. On the way south- 
ward the fleet made a second attack on Fort William. But Captain Stuart, 
with a garrison of only fifty men, made a vigorous and successful defence. 
The English watched the retreating ships beyond the mouth of the St. 
John's ; before the last of July the great invasion was at an end. The 
Spanish authorities of Cuba were greatly chagrined at the failure of the 
expedition. The commander of the squadron was arrested, tried by a 
court-martial and dismissed from the service. 

The commonwealth of Georgia was now firmly established, and the 
settlements had jieace. In 1743, Oglethorpe bade a final adieu to the col- 
ony to whose welfare he had given more than ten years of his life. He 
had never owned a house nor possessed an acre of ground within the lim- 
its of his own province. He now departed for England crowned with 
blessings, and leaving behind him an untarnished fame. James Ogle- 



244 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

tliorpe lived to be nearly a hundrccl years old; benevolence, integrity and 
honor were the virtues of his declining years. But the new State which 
he had founded in the West was not always free from evils. 

For the regulations which the councilors for Georgia had adopted 
were but poorly suited to the wants of the colony. The settlers had i.ot 
been permitted to hold their lands in fee simple. Agriculture had not 
flourished. Commerce had not sprung up. The laws of property had 
been so arranged that estates could descend only to the oldest sons of fam- 
ilies. The colonists ^^•ere poor, and charged their jiovcrty to the fact that 
slave-labor was forbidden in the province. This became the chief ques- 
tion which agitated the peoj)le. The proj)rietaiy laws grew more and 
more unpopular. The statute excluding slavery was not rigidly enforced, 
and, indeed, could not be enforced, \\hen the people had determined to 
evade it. Whitefield himself pleaded for the abrogation of the law. 
Slaves began to be hired, first for short terms of service, then for longer 
periods, then for a hundred years, which was equivalent to an actual pur- 
chase for life. Finally, cargoes of slaves were brought directly from 
Africa, and the primitive free-labor system of Georgia was revolutionized. 
Plantations were laid out below the Savannah, and cultivated, as those of 
South Carolina. 

Another and more impoi-tant change was at hand. It became 
evident that there could be no progress so long as the original char- 
ter renuiined in force. However benevolent the impulse which IkuI 
called Georgia into lacing, the scheme of government had provcil a 
sham. The people were iinjirovident, idle, inexperienced. More than 
six hundred thousand dollars in parliamentary grants, besides private 
contributions amounting to nearly ninety thousand dollars, had been 
fruitlessly expended on the lagging province. In 1752 there were 
only a few scattered plantations and three inconsiderable villages be- 
low the Savannah. The white population amounted, at this time, to 
.seventeen hundred souls ; and the blacks numbered about four hun- 
dred. The industry of Georgia was at a stand-still. The extravagant 
hopes which the colonial managers had entertained of wine, and silk, 
and indigo, found no realization in the facts. The annual exports ot 
the colony amounted to less than four thousand dollars ; and the pros- 
pect for the future was as discouraging as the present condition was 
gloomy. 

At last, however, the new order of things was acknowledged by 
the councilors of the province. They yielded to necessity. In June 
of 1752, just twenty years from the granting of the charter, the trust- 
eas made a formal surrender of their patent to the king. A royal 



GEORGIA. 245 

government was established over the country south of the Savannah, 
and the people were granted the privileges and freedom of English- 
men. A constitution was drawn up by the British Board of Trade, 
and Captain John Reynolds was commissioned as royal governor. In 
October of 1754 he arrived at Savannah and began the work of reor- 
ganization. For two years and a half he labored assiduously to ex- 
tricate the affairs of Georgia from the confusion into which they had 
liillen ; and .so successful was his work that at the end of this time 
the population had reached six thousand. The southern boundary of 
the province remained to be decided by the issue of the French and 
Indian War. During the progress of that conflict Georgia was saved 
from calamity by the prudent administration of Governor Ellis, who 
secured from the powerful Creek confederacy a new treaty of peace. 
A barrier was thus interposed between the colony and the hostile 
nations of the West and North. In the year 1758 the province was 
divided into eight parishes, and at the same time the Church of Eng- 
land was established l)y law. Still, for a while, the progress of the 
colony was not equal to the expectations of its founder. But before 
the beginning of the Revolution, Georgia, though the feeblest of all 
the Anglo-American provinces, had become a prosperous and growing 
State. 



Such is the story of the planting by our fathers of the Old Thir- 
teen republics — such the record of their growth and prospects. From 
the gloomy coast of Labrador, where, two hundred and fifty years be- 
fore, Jolin Cabot had set up the flag of England and arms of Henry 
VII., to the sunny waters where Ponce de Leon, looking shoreward, 
called his cavaliers to gaze on the Land of Flowers, — the dominion 
of Great Britain had been established. Would that dominion last 
forever? Would the other nations of Europe ever rally and regain 
their lost ascendency on the Western continent? Would the ties of 
kinship, the affinity of language, the bond of a common ancestry, 
stretching from these sea-shore commonwealths across the Atlantic, 
bind them in perpetual luiion with the mother Islands ? Would these 
isolated provinces in America — now so quick to take ofl^ence at each 
other's beliefs and actions, and so easily jealous of each other's power 
and fame — ever unite in a common cause ? ever join to do battle for 
life and liberty? ever become a Nation? Such were the momentous 
fjuestions, the problems of destiny, which hung above the colonics at 



246 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the middle of the eighteenth century — problems which the future 
could not be lonu; in .solvinsj. 

The history of these American colonies from their first feeble be- 
ginnings is full of interest and instruction. The people who laid the 
foundations of civilization in the New World were nearly all refugees, 
exiles, wanderers, pilgrims. They were urged across the ocean by a 
common impulse, and that impulse was the desire to escape from somi 
form of ojipression in tiie Old World. Sometimes it was the oppres- 
sion of the Church, sometimes of the State, sometimes of society. In 
the wake of the emigrant ship there was always tyranny. Men loved 
freedom ; to find it they braved the perils of the deep, traversed the 
solitary forests of Maine, built huts on the bleak shores of New Eng- 
land, entered the Hudson, explored the Jerseys, found shelter in the 
Chesapeake, met starvation and death on the banks of the James, were 
buffeted by storms around the capes of Carolina, built towns by the 
estuaries of the great rivers, made roads through the pine-woocLs, and 
carried the dwellings of men to the very margin of the fever-haunted 
swamps of the South. It is all one story — the story of the human raco 
seeking for liberty. 



i;i:i!!i!!||ii>iii»il 




If 



COLONIAL HLSTORY.— Continued. 

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

CA USES. 

rpHE time came when the American colonies began to act together. 
-*- From the beginning they had been kept apart by prejudice, suspi- 
cion and mutual jealousy. But the fathers were now dead, old antago- 
nisms had passed away, a new generation had arisen with kindlier feel- 
ings and more charitable sentiments. But it was not so much the growth 
of a more liberal public opinion as it was the sense of a common danger 
that at last led the colonists to make a united effort. The final struggle 
between France and England for colonial supremacy in America was 
at hand. Necessity compelled the English colonies to join in a com- 
mon cause against a common foe. This is the conflict known as the 
French and Indian War ; witli this great event the separate histories 
of the colonies are lost in the more general history of the nation. The 
contest began in 1754, but the causes of the war had existed for many 
years. 

The first and greatest of these causes was the conflicting territorial 
■claims of the two nations. England had colonized the sea-coast ; France 
had colonized the interior of the continent. From IMaine to Florida the 
Atlantic shore was spread-wittrEligTish colonies; but there were no inland 
settlements. The great towns were on the ocean's edge. But the claims 
of England reached far beyond her colonics. Bused on the discoveries 
of the Cabots, and not limited by actual occupation, those claims extended 
westward to the Pacific. In making grants of territory the English 
kings had always proceeded upon the theory that the voyage of Sebastian 
Cabot liad given to England a la-\vful right to the countiy from one ocean 
to the other. Far different, however, were the claims of France ; the 

French had first colonized the valley of the St. Lawrence. Montreal, one 

(247) 



248 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of the earliest settlements, is more than five hundred miles from the sea. 
If the French colonies had been limited to the St. Lawrence and its trib- 
utaries, there would have been little danger of a conflict about territorial 
dominion. But in the latter half of the seventeenth century the French 
began to push their way westward and southward ; first, along the shores 
of the great lakes, then to the head-waters of the Wabash, the Illinois; 
the Wisconsin and the St. Croix, then down these streams to tlie jNIissis- 
sippi, and then to the Gulf of Mexico. The jJurpose of the French, as 
manifested in these movements, was no less than to divide the American 
continent and to take the larger portion, to possess the laud for France 
and for Catholicism. For it was the work of the Jesuit missionaries. 
So important and marvelous are those early movements of the French in 
the valley of the ]\Iississippi that a l)rief account of the leading explora- 
tions may here be given. 

The zealous Jesuits, purposing to extend the Catlu)lic faith to all 
lands and nations, set out fearlessly from the older settlements of the St. 
Lawrence to explore the unknown West, and to convert the barbarous 
races. In 1641, Charles Kaymbault, the first of the French missionary 
explorers, ])assed through the northern straits of Lake Huron and entered 
Lake Superior. In the thirt}' years that followed, the Jesuits continued 
their explorations with prodigious activity. Missions were established at 
various points north of the lakes, and in Michigan, Wisconsin and Illi- 
nois. In 1673, Joliet and Marquette passed from the head-waters of 
Fox River over the watershed to the upper tributaries of the WLsconsin, 
and thence down that river in a seven days' voyage to the Mississippi. 
For a full month the canoe of the daring adventurers carried tliem on 
toward the sea. They passed the mouth of Arkansas River, and reached 
the limit of their voyage at the thirty-third parallel of latitude. Turn- 
ing their boat up stream, they entered the mouth of the Illinois and 
returned by the site of Chicago into Lake Michigan, and thence to De- 
troit. But it was not yet known whether the great river discharged its 
flood of waters into the southern gulf or into the Pacific Ocean. 

It remained for Robert de la Salle, most illustrious of the French 
explorers, to solve the problem. This courageous and daring man was 
living at the outlet of Lake Ontario when the news of Marquette's 
voyage reached Canada. Fired with the passion of discovery. La Salle 
built and launched the first ship above Niagara Falls. He sailed west- 
ward through Lake Erie and I^akc Huron, anchored in Green Bay, 
crossed Lake Michigan to the mouth of the St. Joseph, ascended that 
stream with a few companions, traversed the country to the upjier Kanka- 
kee, and dropi^cd down with the current into the Illinois. Hen' disas- 



CAUSES. 249 

ters overtook the expedition, and La Salle was obliged to return on foot 
to Fort Frontenac, a distance of nearly a thousand miles. During his 
absence, Fatlicr Hennepin, a member of the company, traversed Illinois, 
and explored the Mississijipi as high as the Falls of St. Anthony. 

In 1681, La Salle returned to his station on the Illinois, bringing 
men and supplies. A boat was l)uilt and launched, and early in the 
following year the heroic adventurer, with a few companions, descended 
the river to its junction with the Mississippi, and was borne by the 
Father of Waters to the Gulf of Mexico. It was one of the greatest 
exploits of modern times. The return voyage was successfully accijm- 
plished. La Salle reached Quebec, and immediately set sail for France. 
The kingdom was greatly excited, and vast plans were made for coloniz- 
ing the valley of the Mississippi. In .July of 1G84 four ships, bearing 
two hundred and eighty emigrants, left France. Beaujeu commanded 
the fleet, and La Salle was leader of the colony. The plan was to enter 
the gulf, ascend the river, and plant settlements on its banks and tributa- 
ries. But Beaujeu was a bad and headstrong captain, and against La 
Salle's entreaties the squadron was carried out of its course, beyond the 
mouths of the Mississippi, and into the Ba)- of IMatagorda. Here a 
landing was effected, but the store-ship, with all its precious freightage, 
was dashed to pieces in a storm. Nevertheless, a colony was established, 
and Texas became a part of Louisiana. 

La Salle made many unsuccessful efforts to rediscover the Missis- 
sippi. One misfortune after another followed fast, but the leader's reso- 
lute spirit remained tranquil through all calamities. At last, with sixteen 
companions, he set out to cross the continent to Canada. The march 
began in January of 1687, and continued for sixty days. The wanderers 
were already in the basin of the Colorado. Here, on tlie 20th of March, 
while La Salle was at some distance from the camp, two conspirators of 
the company, hiding in the })rairie grass, took a deadly aim at the 
famous explorer, and shot him dead in his tracks. Only seven of the 
adventurers succeeded in reaching a French settlement on the Mis- 
sissippi. 

France was not slow to occupy the vast country revealed to her 
by the activity of the .Jesuits. As early as 1688 military posts had 
been established at Frontenac, at Niagara, at the Straits of Mackinaw, 
and on the Illinois River. Before the middle of the eighteenth century, 
jiermanent settlements had been made by the French on the Maumee, at 
Detroit, at the mouth of the river St. Joseph, at Green Bay, at Vincennes 
on the Lower Wabash, on the Mississippi at the mouth of the Kaskas- 
kia, at Fort Rosalie, the present site of Natchez, and on the Gulf of 



•250 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mexico at the head of the Bay of Biloxi. At this time the only outposts 
of ths English colonies were a small fort at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, 
and a few scattered cabins in West Virginia. It only remained for 
France to occupy the valley of Ohio, in order to confine the provinces of 
Great Britain to the country east of the Alleghanies. To do this became 
the sole ambition of the French, and to prevent it the stubborn purpose 
of the English. 

A second cause of war existed in the long-standing national animos- 
ity of France and England. The two nations could liardly remain at 
peace. The French and the English were of different races, languages 
and laws. For more than two centuries France had been the leader of 
the Catholic, and England of the Protestant, powers of Europe. Religious 
prejudice intensified the natural jealousy of the two nations. Rivalry 
prevailed on land and sea. When, at the close of the seventeenth century, 
it was seen that the peoj^le of the English colonies outnumbered those of 
Canada by nearly twenty to one, France was filled with envy. When, 
by the enterprise of the Jesuit missionaries, the French began to dot the 
basin of the Mississippi with fortresses, and to monopolize the fur-trade 
of the Indians, England could not conceal her wrath. It was only a 
question of time when this unreasonable jealoasy would bring on a colo- 
nial war. 

The third and immediate cause of hostilities was a conflict between 
the frontiers-Men of the tiro nations in attempting to colonize the Oiiio 
valley. The year 1749 witnessed the beginning of difficulties. For 
some time the strolling traders of Virginia and Pennsylvania had fre- 
quented the Indian towns on the ui)per tributaries of the Ohio. Xow the 
tradei>: of Canada began to visit the same villages, and to compete with 
the English in the purchase of furs. Virginia, under her ancient char- 
tei-s, claimed the \\liole country lying between her western borders and 
tiie southern shores of Lake Erie. The French fur-gatherere in this dis~ 
trict were regarded as intruders not to be tolerated. In order to prevent 
further encroachment, a number of prominent Virginians joined them- 
selves together in a body called the Ohio Company, with a view to 
the immediate occupation of the disputed territory. Robert Dinwiddie, 
g' vernor i)f the State, Lawrence and Augustus Washington, and Thomas 
Lee, j)re.si(lent of the Virginia council, were the leading members of the 
corporation. In March of 1749 the company received from George II. 
an extensive land-grant covering a tract of five iumdrcd tliousand acres, 
to be located between the Kanawha and the Monongahela, or on the 
northern bank of the Oiiio. The conditions of the grant were that the 
lai.ds should be held free of rent for ten veai-s, tiiat within seven years a 



CAUSES. 251 

colony of one hundred families should be established in the district, and 
that the territory should be immediately selected. 

But the French were equally active. Before the Ohio Company 
could send out a colony, the governor of Canada despatched Bienville 
with three hundred men to explore and occupy the valley of the Ohio. 
The expedition \\as successful. Plates of lead bearing French inscrip- 
tions were buried here and there on both banks of the river, the region was 
explored as far west as the towns of the Miamis, the English traders were 
expelled from the country, and a letter was written to Governor Hamil- 
ton of Pennsylvania admonishing him to encroach no farther on the 
territory of the king of France. This work occupied the summer and 
fall of 1749. In the mean time, the Ohio Company had equipped an 
exploring party, and jilaced it under command of Christopher Gist. In 
November of 1750 he and his company reached the Ohio opposite the 
mouth of Beaver Creek. Here the expedition crossed to the northern 
side, tarried at Logstown, passed down the river through the several 
Indian confederacies to the Great Miami, and thence to within fifteen 
miles of the falls at Louisville. Returning on foot through Kentucky, 
the explorers reached Virginia in the spring of 1751. 

This expedition was followed by still more vigorous movements on 
the part of the French. Descending from th-eir headquarters at Presque 
Isle, now Eric, on the southern shore of the lake, they built a fortress 
called Le Boeuf, on French Creek, a tributary of the Alleghany. Pro- 
ceeding down the stream to its junction with the river, they erected a 
second fort, named Venango. From this point they advanced against a 
British post on the IMiami, broke up the settlement, made prisoners of 
the garrison and carried them to Canada. The king of the IMiami con- 
federacy, who had assisted the English in defending their outpost, was 
inhumanly murdered by the Indian allies of the French. About the 
same time the country south of the Ohio, between the Great Kanawha 
and the Monongahela, was exploretl by Gist and a party of armed sur- 
veyors, acting under ordei-s of the company. In the summer of 1753 the 
English opened a road from Will's Creek through the mountains into the 
Ohio valley, and a colony of eleven families wa-s planted on the Youghi- 
ogheny, just west of I^aurel Hill. It was impossible that a conflict be'-, 
tweeii the advancing settlements of the two nations could be much longer 
averted. 

The Indian nations were greatly alarmed at the tlireatening pros- 
pect. Solemn councils were held among all the tribes, and the affairs of 
the race were gravely discussed by the copper-colored oratoi-s. From the 
first the Red men rather favored the English cause, but their allesriauce 



252 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

was wavering and uncertain. After the murder of the Miami cliieftaiu 
their hostility to the French became more decided. When, in the spring 
of 1753, the news was borne to the council-fires on the Ohio that Du 
Quesne, the governor of Canada, had despatched a companj' of twelve 
hundred men to descend the Allegiiany and colonize the country, the 
jealousy of the natives was kindled into open resistance. The tribes 
most concerned were the Dclawares, the Shawnees, the Miamis and the 
Miugocs. The chieftain of this confederacy, named Tanacharisson, was 
called the Half-King from the fact that his subjects, except the Miamis, 
owed a kind of indefinite allegiance to the Iroquois or Six Nations. By 
the authority of a great council held at Logstown the Half-King was now 
sent to Erie to remonstrate with the French commandant against a further 
invasion of the Indian country. " The land is mine, and I will have it," 
replied the Frenchman, with derision and contempt. The insulted 
sachem returned to his nation to lift the hatchet against the enemies of 
his i)eople. It was at this time that the chiefs of many tribes met Benja- 
min Franklin at the town of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and formed a treaty 
of alliance with the Elnglish. 

Virginia was now thoroughly aroused. But before proceeding to 
actual hostilities, rjovcrnor Dinwiddie determined to try the effect of a 
final remonstrance with tlie French. A paper w;xs accordingly drawn up 
setting forth the nature and extent of the English claim to the valley of 
the Ohio, and solenmly warning the authorities of France against further 
intrusion into that region. It was necessary that this paper should be 
carried to General St. Pierre, now stationed at Erie as commander of the 
French forces in the West. Who should be chosen to bear the important 
parchment to its far-off destination? It was the most serious mission 
ever yet undertaken in America. A young surveyor, named George 
Washington, was called to jierform the perilous duty. Him the 
governor summoned from his home on the Potomac and commissioned as 
ambassador, and to him was committed the message which was to be 
borne from Williamsburg, on York River, through the untrodden wilder- 
ness to Prcsque Isle, on the shore of Lake Erie. 

On the last day of Octol)er, 1 7o;5, Washington set out on his long 
journey. He was attended by four comrades besides an interpreter and 
Christopher Gist, the guide. The party arrived without accident at the 
mouth of Will's Creek, the last important tributary of the Potomac on 
the north. From this place Washington proceeded through the moun- 
tains to the head-waters of the Youghiogheny, and thence down that 
stream to the site of Pittsburg. The immense importance of this place, 
lying at the confluence of the two great tributaries of the Ohio, and com- 



CAUSES. 



25:3 



mantling them both, was at once perceived by the young ambassador, who 

Washington was now conducted 




FIRST SCENE OF THE FRENCH AND 
INDIAN WAR, 1750. 



noted the spot as the site of a fortress, 
across the Alleghany by the chief of 
the Delawares, and thence twenty 
miles down the river to Logstown. 
Here a council was held with the 
Indians, who renewed their j)lcdges 
of friendship and fidelity to the Eng- 
lish. The emissaries of the French 
were already in the country trying 
in every conceivable way to entice 
the Red men into an alliance ; but 
every proposal was rejected. In the 
beginning of December, Washington 
and his party moved northward to 
the French post at Venango. The 
officers of the fort took no pains to 
conceal their purpose ; the project of 
uniting Canada and Louisiana by 
way of the Ohio valley was openly avowed. 

From Venango, Washington set out through the forest to Fort le 
Boeuf on French Creek, fifty miles above its junction with the Alleghany. 
This was the last stage in the journey. It was still fourteen miles to 
Presque Isle ; but St. Pierre, the French commander, had come down 
from that place to superintend the fortifications at Le Breuf. Here the 
conference was held. Washington was received with great courtesy, 
but the general of the French refused to enter into any discussion on the 
rights of nations. He was acting, he said, under military instructions 
given by the governor pf New France. He had been commanded by his 
superior officer to eject every Englishman from the valley of the Ohio, 
and he meant to carry out his orders to the letter. A firm but courteous 
reply was returned to Governor Dinwiddle's message. France claimed 
the country of the Ohio in virtue of discovery, exploration and occupa- 
tion, and her claim should be made good by force of arms. 

Washington was kindly dismissed, but not until he had noted with 
keen anxiety the immense preparations which were making at Le Boeuf. 
There lay a fleet of fifty birch-bark canoes and a hundred and seventy 
boats of pine ready to descend the river to the site of Pittsburg. For the 
French, as well as the English, had noted the importance of that spot, 
and had determined to fortify it as soon as the ice should break in the 
rivers. It was now the dead of winter. Washington returned to Ve- 



254 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

nango, aud then, with Gist as his sole companion, left tlie river and 
struck into the woods. It was one of the most solitary marches ever 
made by man. There in the desolate wilderness was the future Pr&sident 
of the United States. Clad in the robe of an Indian, with gun in hand 
and knapsack strapped to his shoulders ; struggling through interminable 
snows; sleeping with frozen clothes on a bed of pine-brush; breaking 
through the treacherous ice of rapid streams ; guided by day by a pockci 
compass, and at night by the North Star, seen at intervals through the 
leafless trees ; fired at by a prowling savage from his covert not fifteen 
steps away ; thrown from a raft into the rushing Alleghany ; escaping to 
an island and lodging there until the river was frozen over ; plunging 
again into the forest ; reaching Gist's settlement and then the Potomac, — 
the strong-limbed young ambassador came back without wound or scar to 
the capital of Virginia. For his flesh was not made to be torn with 
bullets or to be eaten by the wolves. The defiant despatch of St. Pierre 
was laid l)efore Governor Dinwiddle, and the first public service of Wash- 
ington was accomplished. 

In the mean time, the Ohio Company had not been idle. About 
mid-winter a party of thirty-three men had been organized and placed 
under command of Trent, with orders to proceed at once to the source of 
the Ohio and erect a fort. The company must have been marching to its 
destination Avhen Washington returned to Virginia. It was not far from 
the middle of March, 1754, when Trent's party reached the confluence 
of the Allesrhanv and the Mononsrahela, and b'lilt the first rude stockade 
on the site of Pittsburg.* After all the threats and boasting of the 
French, the English had beaten them and seized the key to the Ohio 
valley. 

But it Avas a short-lived triumph. As soon a.s the approaching 
spring broke the ice-gorges in the Alleghany, the French fleet of boats, 
already prepared at Venango, came sweeping down the river. It was in 
vain for Trent witli his handful of men to offer resistance. Washington 
had now been commissioned as lieutenant-colonel, and was stationed at 
Alexandria to enlist recruits for the Ohio. A regiment of a hundred an' ' 
fifty men had been enrolled ; but it was impossible to bring succor to 
Trent in time to save the post. On the 17th of April the little band of 
Englishmen at the head of the Ohio surrendered to the enemy and with- 
drew from the countr}-. The French immediately occupied the place, 
felled the forest-trees, built barracks and laid the foundations of Fort 
DU QuESNE. To recajiture this place by force of arms Colonel Wash- 
ington set out from Will's Creek in the early part of May, 1754. Nego- 
* The accounts of this important event are very obscure and unsatisfactory. 



CAMPAIGNS OF WASHINGTON AND BRADDOCK. 25S 

tiations had failed ; remonstrance liad been tried in vain ; the possession 
of the disputed territory was now to be determined by the harsher methods 
of war. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

CAMPAIGNS OF WASHINGTON AND BRADDOCK. 

WASHINGTON now found liimself in command of a little army of 
Virginians. His commission was brief and easily understood : To 
construct a fort at the source of the Ohio ; to destroy whoever opposed 
him in the work ; to capture, kill or repel all who interrupted the progress 
of the English settlements in that country. In the month of April the 
young commander left Will's Creek, but the march westward was slow 
and toilsome. The men were obliged to drag their cannons. The roads 
were miserable ; rain fell in torrents on the tentless soldiers ; rivers were 
bridgeless ; provisions insufficient. All the while the faithful Half-King 
was urging Washington by repeated despatches to hasten to the rescue of 
the Red men. 

On the 26th of May the English regiment reached the Great 
Meadows. Here Washington was informed that a company of French 
M'as on tlie march to attack him. The enemy had been seen on the 
Youghioghcny only a few miles distant. A stockade was immediately 
erected, to which the commander gave the appropriate name of Fort 
Necessity. Ascertaining from the scouts of the Half-King that the French 
company in the neighborhood was only a scouting-party, Washington, 
after conference with the Mingo chiefs, determined to strike the first blow. 
Two Indians followed the trail of the French, and discovered their hidino-- 
place ni a rocky ravine. The English advanced cautiously, intending to 
surprise and capture the whole force ; but the French were on the alert, 
saw the approaching soldiers and flew to arms. Washington witli 
musket in hand was at the head of his company. " Fire !" was the clear 
command that rang through the forest, and the first volley of a great war 
went flying on its mission of death. The engagement was brief and 
decisive. Junionville, the leader of the French, and ten of his party were 
killed, and twenty-one were made prisoners. 

A month of precious time was now lost in delays. While Washing- 
ton at Fort Necessity waited in vain for reinforcements, the French at 



256 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Fort du Quesne were collecting in great numbers. One small companv 
of volunteers from South Carolina arrived at the English camp ; but the 
captain was an arrogant blockhead who, having a commission from the 
king, undertook to supersede ^^'ashington. The latter, Mith the Vir- 
ginians, sjient the time of waiting in cutting a road for twenty miles 
across the rough country in the direction of Fort du Quesne. The In- 
dians were greatly discouraged at the dilatory conduct of the colonies, 
and the strong war-parties which had been expected to join ^\'ashington 
from the Muskingum and the Miami did not arrive. His whole effect- 
ive force scarcely numbered four hundred. Learning that the French 
general De Villiers was a))proacliing with a large body of troops, besides 
Indian auxiliaries, Washington deemed it prudent to fall back to Fort 
Necessity. The Carolina captain, who had remained within the fortifica- 
tions, had done nothing to strengthen the works, although there was the 
greatest need. 

The little fort stood in an open space, midway between two emi- 
nences covered with trees. Scarcely were Washington's forces safe within 
the enclosure, when on the 3d of July the regiment of De Villiers, num- 
bering six hundred, besides the savage allies, came in sight, and surrounded 
the fort. The French stationed themselves on the eminence, about sixty 
yards distant from the stockade. From this position they could fire down 
ujjon the English with fatal effect. Many of the Indians climbed into 
the tree-tops, where they wei'e concealed by the thick foliage. For nine 
hours, during a rain-storm, the assailants poured an incessant shower of 
balls upon the heroic band in the fort. Thirty of Washington's men 
Mere killed, but his tranquil presence encouraged the rest, and the fire of 
die French was returned with unabated vigor. At length De Villiers, fear- 
ing that his ammunition would be exhausted, proposed a parley. Wash- 
ington, seeing that it would be impossible to hold out much longer, ac- 
cepted the honorable terms of capitulation which were offered by the 
French general. On the 4th of July the English garrison, retaining all 
its accoutrements, marched out of the little fort, so bravely defended, and 
withdrew from the country. The whole valley of the Ohio remained in 
undisturbed possession of the French. 

Meanwhile, a congress of the American colonies had assembled at 
Albanv. The objects had in view were twofold : first, to renew the 
treaty with the Iroquois confederacy ; and secondly, to stir up the colonial 
authorities to some sort of concerted action against the French. The 
Iroquois had wavered from the beginning of the war; the recent reverses 
of the English had not strengthened the loyalty of the Red men. As to 
the French aggressions, something must be done speedily, or the flag of 



CAMPAIGNS OF WASHINGTON AND BRADDOCK. 257 

England could never be borne into the vast country west of the Alle- 
ghanies. The congress was not wanting in abilities of the highest order. 
No such venerable and dignified body of men had ever before assembled 
on the American continent. There were Hutchinson of Massachusetts, 
Hopkins of Rhode Island, Franklin of Pennsylvania, and others scarcely 
less distinguished. After a few days' consultation, the Iroquois, but half 
satisfied, renewed their treaty and departed. The chieftains were anxious 
and uneasy lest, through inactivity and want of union on the part of the 
colonies, the Six Nations should be left to contend alone with the power 
of France. 

The convention next took up the important question of uniting the 
colonies in a common government. On the 10th day of July, Benjamin 
Franklin laid before the commissioners the draft of a federal constitu- 
tion. His vast and comprehensive mind had realized the true condition 
and wants of the country ; the critical situation of the colonies demanded 
a central government. How else could revenues be raised, an army be 
organized and the common welfare be provided for? According to the 
proposed plan of union, Philadelphia, a central city, M-as to be the cap- 
ital. It was urged in behalf of this clause that the delegates of New 
Hampshire and Georgia, the colonies most remote, could reach the seat 
of government in fifteen or twenty days! Slow-going old patriots! The 
chief executive of the new confederation was to be a governor-general 
appointed and supported by the king. The legislative authority was 
vested in a congress composed of delegates to be chosen triennially by the 
general assemblies of the respective provinces. Each colony should be 
represented in proportion to its contributions to the general government, 
but no colony should have less than two or more than seven represent- 
atives in congress. With the governor was lodged the power of appoint- 
ing all military officers and of vetoing objectionable laws. The appoint- 
ment of civil officers, the raising of troops, the levying of taxes, the super- 
intendence of Indian aflPairs, the regulation of commerce, and all the 
general duties of government, belonged to congress. This body was to 
convene once a year, to choose its own officers, and to remain in session 
not longer than six weeks.* 

Such was the constitution drafted by Franklin and adopted, not 
without serious opposition, by the commissioners at Albany. It remained 
for the colonies to ratify or reject the new scheme of government. Copies 
of the proposed constitution were at once transmitted to the several colon- 
ial capitals, and were everj'where received with disfavor ; in Connecticut, 
rejected ; in Massachusetts, opposed ; in New York, adopted with indiifer- 
«^nce. The chief objection urged against the instrument was the power of 
" • See Apnendix C. 



258 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



veto srivcn to the trovernor-Ereneral. Nor did the new constitution fare 
better in the mother country. The Englisii board of trade rejected it 
witii disdain, saying that the froward Americans were trj'ing to make a 
government of their own. Meanwhile, the French were strengthening 
their works at Crown Point and Fort Niagara, and rejoicing over tlieir 
success in Western Pennsylvania. 

But the honor of England, no less than the welfare of her colonieSj 
was at stake, and Parliament came to the rescue. It was determined to 
send a British army to America, to accept the service of such provincial 
troops as the colonies might furnish, and to protect the frontier against 
the aggressions of France. As yet there had been no declaration of war. 
The ministers of the two nations kejrt assuring each other of peaceable 
intentions ; but Louis XV. took c-are to send thi-ee thousand soldiers to 
Canada, and the British government ordered General Edward Braddock 
to proceed to America with two regiments of regulars. Early in 1755 
the English armament arrived in the Chesapeake. On the 14th of April 
Braddock met the governors of all the colonies in a convention at Alex- 
andria. The condition of colonial atfairs was fully discussed. It was 
resolved, since peace existed, not to invade Canada, but to repel the 
French on the western and northern frontier. The plans of four cam- 
paigns Mere accordingly submitted and ratified. Lawrence, the governor 
of Nova Scotia, was to complete the conquest of that province according to 
the English notion of boundaries. Johnson of New York was to enroll 
a force of volunteers and Mohawks in British pay, and to capture the 
French post at Crown Point. Shirley of jSIassachusetts was to equip a 
regiment and drive the enemy from their fortress at Niagara. Last and 
most important of all, Braddock himself as commander-in-chief M'as to 
lead the main body of regulars against Fort du Ciuesiie, retake that post 
and expel the French from the Ohio valley. 

In the latter part of April the British general set out on his march 
from Alexandria to Will's Creek. The name of the military post at the 
mouth of this stream was now changed to Fort Cumberland. Braddock's 
army numbered fully two thousand men. They were nearly all veterans 
who had seen service in the wars of Europe. A few provincial troojjs 
had joined the expedition ; two companies of volunteers, led by Colonel 
Horatio Gates of New York, were among the number. Washington met 
the army at Fort Cumberland, and became an aid-de-camp of Braddock. 
The colonies would have assisted with large levies of recruits, had it not 
been for the nature of the general's authority. It was prescribed in hi.« 
commission that the provincial captains and colonels shoidd have no rank 
when serving in connection with the British army. So odious was this 



CAMPAIGNS OF WASHINGTON AND BRADDOCK. 259 

Tegulation that Washington had set the example of withdrawing from the 
service ; patriotic motives and the wish of A'irgiuia now induced him to 
return and to accept a post of responsibihty. 

On the last day of May tlie march began from Fort Cumberland. 
A select force of five hundred men was thrown ibrward to open the roads 
in the direction of Fort du Quesne. Sir Peter Halket led the advance, 
and Braddoc'k followed with the main body. The army, marching in a 
slender column, was extended for four miles along the narrow and broken 
road It Avas in vain that Washington pointed out the danger of am- 
buscades and suggested the employment of scouting-parties. Braddock 
was self-willed, arrogant, proud ; thoroughly skilled in the tactics of 
European warfare, he could not bear to be advised by an inferior. The 
sagacious Franklin had admonished him to move with caution ; but he 
only replied that it was impossible for savages to make any impression on 
His Majesty's regulars. Now, when Washington ventured to repeat the 
advice, Braddock flew into a passion, strode up and down in his tent, and 
said that it was high times when Colonel Buckskin could teach a Britisli 
general how to fight. 

On the 19th of June, Braddock put himself at the head of twelve 
hundred chosen troops and pressed forward more rapidly. Colonel Dun- 
bar was left behind with the remainder of the army. On the 8th of July 
tlie van reached the junction of the Youghiogheny and the Monongahela. 
It wa.s only twelve miles farther to Fort du Qiiesne, and the French gave 
up the place as lost. On the next morning the English army advanced 
along the Monongahela, and at noon crossed to the northern bank just 
bevond the confluence of Turtle Creek. Still there was no sisrn of an 
enemy. Colonel Thomas Gage was leading forward a detachment of three 
hundred and fifty men. The road was but twelve feet wide ; the country 
uneven and woody There was a dense undergrowth on either hand ; 
rocks and ravines ; a hill on the right and a dry hollow on the left. A 
few guides were in the advance, and some feeble flanking-parties ; in the 
rear came the general with the main division of the army, the artillery 
and the baggage. All at once a quick and heavy fire was heard in the 
front. 

France was not going to give up Fort du Quesne without a strug- 
gle. For two months the place had been receiving reinforcements ; still 
the garrison was by no means able to cope with Braddock's army. Even 
the Indians realized the disparity of the contest. It was with great diffi- 
^'ulty that, on the night before the battle, the commandant of the fort 
induced the savages to join in the enterprise of ambuscading the British. 
A-t last a force of two hundred and thirty French, led by Beaujeu and 



260 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Dumas, and a body of six hundred and thirty-seven Indians set out from 
Du Quesne ^^•itl^ a view to harass and annoy tlie English rather than to 
face them in a serious battle. It was the purpose of the French, who 
Avere entirely familiar with the ground, to lay an ambuscade at a favor- 
able i^oint seven miles distant from the fort. They were just reaching 
the selected spot and settling into ambush when the flanking-jjarties of 
the English came in sight. The French fired ; the Indians yelled and 
slunk into tiieir hiding-places, and the battle began. 

If Gage had at once thrown forward his forces to the support of 

^___^ the guards, the day could have been 

V \^ l^^F'^^' i Vl ^^^'(^^'^ ! t)ut he was confused and un- 
'v^'^^^^^^^ nI, I j decided. The flanking parties were 

driven in, leaving their six-pounders 
in the hands of the enemy. Gage's 
men wavered, and were mixed in the 
thickset underwood with a regiment 
which Braddock had pushed forward 
to the rescue. The confusion became 
greater, and there were symptoms of 
a panic. The men fired constantly, 
but could see no enemy. Every 
volley from the hidden foe flew with 
deadly certainty into the cro\^•ded 
ranks of the English. The rash but 
brave general rushed to the front and 
rallied his men with the energy of despair; but it was all in vain. The 
men stood huddled together like sheep, or fled in terror to the rear. The 
forest was strewn with the dead ; the savages, emboldened by their unex- 
pected success, crept farther and farther along the flanks; and the battle 
became a rout. Braddock had five horses shot under him ; his secretary 
was killed ; both his English aids were disabled ; only ^^'ashington re- 
mained to distribute orders. Out of eighty-two ofiicers twenty-six were 
killed and thirty-seven M'ounded. Of the privates seven hundred and 
fourteen \\-ere dead or bleeding with wounds. At last the general re- 
ceived a ball in his right side and sank fainting to the ground. "What 
shall we do now, colonel?" said he to Washington, who came to his assist- 
luce. " Retreat, sir — retreat by all means," replied the young hero, ujjon 
whom everything now depended. His own bosom had been for more 
than two hours a sj)ecial target for the savages. Two horses had fallen 
under him, and four times his coat had been torn with balls. A Shawnee 
Jiief singled him out and bade his warriors do the same ; but their volleys 




SCENE OF ERABDOCK'S DEFEAT, 1755. 




FALL OF UKAIiIiOCK. 



EUIN OF ACADIA. 261 

went by harmless. The retreat began at once, and the thirty Virginians, 
who, with Wasiiiugton, were all that remained alive, covered the fliglit of 
the ruined army. The artillery, provisions, baggage and private papei-s 
of the general were left on the field. 

The losses of the French and Indians were slight, amounting to 
:hree officers and thirty men killed, and as many others wounded. There 
was no attempt made at pursuit. The savages fairly reveled in the spoils 
of the battle-field. They had never known so rich a harvest of scalps 
and booty. The tawny chiefs returned to Fort du Quesne clad in the 
laced coats, military boots and cockades of tlie British officers. Tlie 
dying Braddock was borne in the train of the fugitives. Once he roused 
himself to say, " Who would have thought it ?" and again, " We shall 
better know how to deal with them another time." On the evening of 
the fourth day he died, and was buried by the roadside a mile west of Fort 
Necessity. When the fugitives reached Dunbar's camp, the confusion was 
greater than ever. Dunbar was a man of feeble capacity and no courage ; 
pretending to have the orders of the dying general, he proceeded to de- 
stroy the remaining artillery, the heavy baggage, and all the public stores, 
to the value of a hundred thousand pounds. Then followed a precipitate 
retreat to Fort Cumberland, and then an abandonment of that place for 
the safer precincts of Philadelphia. It was only the beginning of August, 
yet Dunbar pleaded the necessity of finding winter quarters for his forces. 
The great expedition of Braddock had ended in such a disaster as spread 
isonsternation and gloom over all the colonies. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

RUIN OF ACADIA. 



BY the treaty of Utrecht, made in 1713, the province of Acadia, or Nova 
Scotia, was ceded by France to England. During the following fifty 
years the 'lolony remained under the dominion of Great Britain, and was 
ruled by English officers. But the great majority of the people were 
French, and the English government amounted only to a military occu- 
pation of the peninsula. The British colors, floating over Louisburg and 
Annapolis, and the presence of British garrisons here and there, were the 
only tokens that this, the oldest French colony in America, had passed 
under the control of foreigners. 



•262 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



At the time of the cession the population amounted to about three 
thousand ; by the outbreak of the French and Indian War tiic number 
had increased to more than sixteen thousand. Lawrence, tlie deputy- 
governor of the province, jiretended to fear an insurrection. Wlien Brad- 
dock and the colonial govei'uors convened at Alexandria, it was urged 
that something must be done to overawe the French and strengthen the 
English authority in Acadia. The enterprise of reducing the French 
peasants to complete humiliation was entrusted to Lawrence, who was 
to be assisted by a British fleet under Colonel Monckton. On the 20th of 
May, 1755, the S(piadron, with three thousand troops, sailed from Boston 
for the Bay of Fundy. 

The French had but two fortified posts in the province ; both of 
these wei'e on the isthmus which divides Nova Scotia from New Bruns- 
wick. The first and most important fortress, named Beau-Sejour, was sit- 
uated near the mouth of JNIessagouche 
Creek, at the head of Chignecto Bay. 
The other fort, a mere stockade called 
Gaspereau, was on the north side of 
the isthmus, at Bay Verte. De Ver- 
gor, the French commandant, had 
no intimation of approaching danger 
till the English fleet sailed fearlessly 
into the bay and anchored before the 
walls of Beau-Sejour. There was no 
preparation for defence. On the 3d 
of June the English forces landed, 
and on the next day forced their way 
across the Messagouche 
sicgre of four davs followed. Fear and confusion reigned ar 
rison ; no successful resistance could be offered. On the IGth of the month 
Beau-Sejour capitulated, received an English garrison and took the name 
of Fort Cumberland. The feeble post at Gaspereau was taken a few days 
afterward, and named Fort Monckton. Captain Rous was des])atched w' ith 
four vessels to capture the fort at the mouth of the St. John's ; but before 
the fleet could reach its destination, the French reduced the town to ashes 
and escaped into the interior. In a campaign of less than a month, and 
with a loss of only twenty men, the English had made theniselves masters 
of the whole country east of the St. Croix. 

The ^var in Acadia was at an end ; but what should be done with 
the people? The French inhabitants still outnumbered the English 
nearly three to one. Governor Lawrence and Admiral Boscawen, in con- 




THE ACADIAN ISTII.MUS, 1755. 



A vigorous 



the gar- 



RUiy OF ACADIA. 



263 



ference with the chief justice of the province, settled upon the atrocious 
measure of driving tlie people into banishment. The first movement was 
to demand an oath of allegiance which was so framed that the French, as 
honest Catholics, could not take it. The priests advised the jieasants to 
declare their loyalty, but refuse the oath, which was meant to ensnare their 
souls. The next step on the part of the English was to accuse the French 
of treason, and to demand the surrender of all their firearms and boats. 
To this measure the broken-hearted people also submitted. They even 
offered to take the oath, but Lawrence declared that, having once refused, 
they must now take the consequences. The British vessels were made 
ready, and the work of forcible embarkation began. 

The country about the isthmus was covered with peaceful hamlets. 




THE EXILE OF THE ACADIANS.* 



These were now laid waste, and the people driven into the larger towns on 
the coast. Others were induced by artifice and treachery to put them- 
selves into the power of the English. "Wherever a sufficient number of 
the French could be gotten together they were driven on shipboard. 
They were allowed to take their Avives and children and as much property 
as would not be inconvenient on the vessels. The estates of the province 
were confiscated, and what could not be ai)])roDriated was given to the 

* Longfellow's Evangeline is founded on this incident. 



264 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

flames. The wails of thousands of bleeding hearts were wafted to heaven 
with the smoke of burning homes. At the village of Grand Pre four 
hundred and eighteen unarmed men were called together and shut up in. 
a church. Then came the wives aud children, the old men and the 
mothers, the sick and the infirm, to share the common fate. The whole 
company numbered more than nineteen hundred souls. The jjoor crea- 
tures were driven down to the shore, forced into the boats at the poin 
of the bayonet, and carried to the vessels in the bay. As the moaning 
fugrtives cast a last look at their pleasant town, a column of black smoke 
floating seaward told the story of desolation. More than three thousand 
of the hapless Acadians were carried away by the British s((Uadron and 
scattered, helpless, half starved and dying, among the English colonies. 
The history of civilized nations furnishes no parallel to this wanton and 
wicked destruction of an inotfensive colony. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

EXPEDITIONS OF SHIRLEY AND JOHNSON. 

THE third campaign planned by Braddock at Alexandria was to be 
conducted by Gnvernor Shirley of Massachusetts. The expedition 
was to proceed from Albany to Oswego, and thence by water to the 
mouth of the Niagara. It was known that Fort Niagara was an insig- 
nificant post, depending for its defence upon a small ditch, a rotten 
palisade and a feeble garrison. To capture this place, to obtain command 
of the river, and to cut off the communications of the French by way of 
the lakes, were the objects of the campaign. " Fort du Quesne can hardly 
detain me more than three or four days," said Braddock to Shirley, " and 
then I will meet you at Niagara." 

In the early part of August, Shirley set out at the head of nearly 
t^vo thousand men. It was the last of the month before he reached 
Oswego. Here the provincial forces had been ordered to assemble. Four 
weeks were spent in preparing boats for embarkation. When everything 
was in readiness, a storm arose ; and when the storm abated, the wnids blew 
in the wrong direction. Then came another tempest and another delay ; 
then sickness prevailed in the camp. With the beginning of October 



EXPEDITIONS OF SHIRLEY AND JOHNSON. 



265 



Shirley declared the lake to be dangerous for navigation. The Indians 
deserted the standard of a leader whose skill in war consisted in framing 
excuses. The fact was that the general, while on the march to Oswego, 
had learned of the destruction of Braddock's army, and feared that a sim- 
ilar fate might overtake his own. On the 24th of October the greater 
jiart of the provincial forces, led by Shirley, marched homeward. Only 
one result of any importance followed from the campaign — the fort at 
Oswego was M'ell rebuilt and garrisoned with seven hundred men under 
Mercer. 

Far more important was the expedition entrusted to General Wil- 
liam Johnson. The object had in view was to capture the enemy's fort- 
ress at Crown Point, and to drive the French from the shores of Lake 
Chaniplain. Johnson's army numbered three thousand four hundred 
men, including a body of friendly Mohawks. The active work of the 
campaign began early in August, when General Phineas Lyman, at the 
head of the New England troops, proceeded to the Hudson above Albany, 
and at a 2)oint just below where the river bends ab- 
ruptly to the Avest built Fort Edward. Thither in 
the last days of summer came the commanding general 
with the main division. The watershed between the 
Hudson and Lake George is only twelve miles wide. 
Johnson's army marched across to the head of the lake 
and laid out a commodious camp. A week was spent 
in bringing forward the artillery and stores. The 
soldiers were busy preparing boats for embarkation, 
and the important matter of fortifying the camp was 
wholly neglected. 

In the mean time, Dieskau, the daring command- 
ant at Crown Point, determined to anticipate the 
movements of the English. With a force of fourteen 
hundred French, Canadians and Indians he sailed up 
Lake Champlain to South Bay. From this point he marched to the 
upper springs of Wood Creek, intending to strike to the south, pass the 
English army and capture Fort Edward before the alarm could be given. 
But the news was carried to General Johnson ; and a force of a thousand 
men under command of Colonel Williams, accompanied by Hendrick, the 
gray-haired chieftain of the Mohawks, with two hundred warriors, was 
sent to the relief of the endangered fort. On the previous night Dieskau's 
guides had led him out of his course. On the morning of the 8th of 
September the French general found himself and his army about four 
miles north of Fort Edward, on the main road from the Hudson to Lake 




VICINITY OP LAKK 
GEORGE, 17.J-3. 



266 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

George. Just at tliis time Colonel Williams's regiment and the Mohawks 
came in sight, marching toward the fort. Dieskau quickly formed an 
ambush, and the English were entrapped ; but the Indian allies of the 
French showed themselves to their countrymen, and would not fire. The 
C^anadians and the French poured in a deadly volley; both \\'il]iams and 
Hendrick fell dead, and the English were thrown into confusion. But 
Colonel ^^'hiting rallied the troops, returned the enemy's fire, and re- 
treated toward the lake. St. Pierre, one of the French generals, was 
killed. 

The noise of battle was hoard in Johnson's camp, and preparations 
were made for a general engagement. There were no entrenchments, but 
trees were hastily felled for breastworks, and the cannons were brought 
into position. It was Dieskau's plan to rush into the English camp 
along with the fugitives whom he was driving befoi-e him ; but the In- 
dians, afraid of Johnson's guns, would not join in the assault ; the Red 
men retired to a hill at a safe distance. The Canadians M'ere disheartened ; 
and the handful of French regulars made the onset almost unsupported. 
It was the fiercest battle which had yet been fought on American soil. 
For five hours the conflict was incessant. In the beginning of the engage- 
ment Johnson received a slight wound and left the field ; but the troops 
of New England fought on without a commander. Nearly all of Dieskau's 
regulars were killed. At last the English troops leaped over the fallen 
trees, charged across the field, and com2)leted the rout. Thi'ee times 
Dieskau was Mounded, but he would not retire. His aids came to bear 
him off; one was shot dead, and he forbade the others. He ordered his 
servants to bring him his military dress, and then seated himself on the 
stump of a tree. A renegade Frenchman belonging to the English army 
rushed up to make him a prisoner. The wounded general felt for his 
watch to tender it in token of surrender. The Frenchman, thinking tiiat 
Dieskau was searching lor a pistol, fired, and the brave counnander tell, 
mortally ^^•ounded. 

The victory, though complete, was dearly purchased. Two hun- 
dred and sixteen of the English were killed, and many others wounded. 
General .Joluison, M'ho had done but little, was greatly praised ; Parliament 
made him a baronet for gaining a victory which the provincials gained 
lor him. Made wiser by the battle, he now constructed on the site of his 
camp a substantial fort, and named it ^^'illiam Henry. The defences of 
Fort Edward were strengthened with an additional garrison, and the 
remainder of the troops returned to their homes. Meanwhile, the French 
had reinforced Crown Point, and had seized and fortified Ticonderoga, 
Such was the condition of affairs at the close of 1755. 



TWO YEARS OF DISASTER. 267 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

TWO YEARS OF DISASTER. 

AFTER the death of Braddock the chief command of the English 
forces in America was given to Governor Shirley. But no regular 
military organization had been effected ; and the war was carried on in a 
desultory manner. Braddock had ruined one army ; Shirley had scat- 
tered another. On Lake George, Johnson had achieved a marked suc- 
cess. In the beginning of 1756, Washington at the head of the Vir- 
ginian provincials repelled the French and Indians in the valley of the 
Shenandoah. At the same time the Pennsylvania volunteers, choosing 
Franklin for their colonel, marched to the banks of the Lehigh, built a 
fort, and made a successful campaign. In the preceding December, 
Shirley met the colonial governors at New York and plamied the move- 
ments for the following year. One expedition, proceeding by way of tlie 
Kennebec, was to threaten Quebec. Forts Frontenac, Toronto and Niagara 
were to be taken. Du Quesne, Detroit and Mackinaw, deprived of tiieir 
communications, must of course surrender. 

In the mean time, after much debate in Parliament, it was decided 
to consolidate and put under one authority all the military forces in 
America. Tlie earl of Loudoun received the appointment of commander- 
in-chief General Abercrombie was second in rank ; and forty British 
and German officers were commissioned to organize and discipline the 
colonial army. In the last of April, 1756, Abercrombie, with two bat- 
talions of regulars, sailed for New York. Lord Loudoun was to follow 
\vith a fleet of transports, bearing the artillery, tents, ammunition and 
equipage of the expedition. The commander waited a month for his 
vessels, and tlien sailed without them. On the 15th of June a man-of- 
war was despatched to America with a hundred thousand pounds to reim- 
burse the colonies for the expenses of the previous campaigns. At the 
same time the corps of British officers arrived at New York. Meanwhile, 
on the 17th of May, Great Britain, after nearly two years of actual hos- 
tilities, made an open declaration of war, which was followed by a similar 
declaration on the part of France. 

On the 25th of June, Abercrombie reached Albany. He began his 
great campaign by surveying the town, digging a ditch and quartering 



268 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

his soldiers with the citizens. In July, Lord Loudoun arrived and 
assumed the command of the colonial army. The French, meanwhile, 
profiting by these delays, organized a force of more than five thousand 
men, crossed Lake Ontario and laid siege to Oswego. The marquis of 
Montcalm, who had succeeded Dieskau as commander-in-chief, led the 
expedition. At the mouth of Oswego River there were two forts ; the 
old block-house on the west and the new Fort Ontario on the east. The 
latter was first attacked. Thirty pieces of cannon were brought to bear 
on the fortress. After a brave defence of one day, the little garrison 
abandoned the works and escaped to the old fort across the river. This 
place wa-s also invested by the French. For two days the English, num- 
bering only fourteen hundred, held out against the besiegers, and then sur- 
rendered. A vast amount of ammunition, small arms, accoutrements 
and provisions fell to the captors. Six vessels of war, three hundred 
boats, a hundred and twenty cannon and three chests of money were the 
further fruits of a victory by which France gained the only important 
outpost of England on the lakes. To please his Indian allies, Montcalm 
ordered Oswego to be razed to the ground. 

During this summer the Delawares, false to their treaty, rose in 
Western Pennsylvania and almost ruined the country. INIore than a 
thousand people were killed or carried into captivity. In August, Colonel 
John Armstrong, at the head of three hundred volunteers, crossed the 
Alleghanics, and after a twenty days' march reached the Indian town of Kit- 
taning, forty-five miles north-east from Pittsburg. Lying in concealment 
until daydawn on tlie morning of September 8th, the English rose against 
the savages, and after a desperate battle destroyed them almost to a man. 
The village was burned and the spirit of the barbarians completely broken. 
The Americans lost sixteen men. Colonel Armstrong and Captain Hugh 
Mercer, afterward distinguished in the Revolution, M'ere both severely 
wounded. 

Lord Loudoun continued at Albany. His forces were amply suffi- 
cient to capture every stronghold of Canada in the space of six weeks. 
Instead of marching boldly to the north, he whiled away the summer and 
fall, talked about an attack from the French, digged ditches, slandered 
the provincial officers and waited for winter. When the frosts came, he 
made haste to distribute the colonial troops and to quarter the regulars on 
the principal towns. The vigilant French, learning what sort of a general 
they had to cope with, crowded Lake Champlain with boats, strengthened 
Crown Point and comjileted a fort at Ticonderoga. With the exception 
of Armstrong's expedition against the Indians, the year 1756 closed with- 
out a single substantial success on the part of the English. 



TWO YEARS OF DISASTER. 269 

And the year 1757 was equally disastrous. The campaign which 
was planned by Loudoun was limited to the conquest of Louisburg. Ever 
since the treaty of Utrecht the French had retained Cape Breton ; and 
the fortress at Louisburg had been made one of the strongest on the con- 
tinent. On the 20th of June, Lord Loudoun sailed from New York with 
an army of six thousand regulars. By the first of July he was at Hal' 
ifax, where he was joined by Admiral Holbourn with a powerful fleet ot 
sixteen men-of-war. There were on board five thousand additional 
troops fresh from the armies of England. Never was such a use made of 
a splendid armament. Loudoun landed before Halifax, cleared off a mus- 
tering plain, and set his officers to drilling regiments already skilled in 
every manceuvre of war. To heighten the absurdity, the fields about the 
city were planted with onions. For it was said that the men might take 
the scurv}' ! By and by the news came that the French vessels in the 
harbor of Louisburg outnumbered by one the ships of the English squad- 
ron. To attack a force that seemed superior to his own was not a part of 
Loudoun's tactics. Ordering the fleet to go cruising around Cape Breton, 
he immediately embarked with his army, and sailed for New York. 
Arriving at this place, he proposed to his officers to fortify Long Island 
in order to defend the continent against an enemy whom he outnumbered 
four to one. 

Meanwliile, the daring Montcalm had made a brilliant campaign in 
the country of Lake (jeorge. With a force of six thousand French and 
Canadians and seventeen hundred Indians he proceeded up the Sorel, 
entered Lake Champlain, and reached Ticonderoga. The object of the 
ex|)edition was to capture and destroy Fort "William Henry. The French 
and the Iroquois, M-ho had now abandoned the cause of the colonies, were 
fired with enthusiasm. Dragging their artillery and boats across the 
portage to Lake George, they re-embarked, and on the 3d of August laid 
siege to the English fort. The place was defended by only five hundred 
men under the brave Colonel Monro ; but there were seventeen hundred 
additional troops within suppoi-ting distance in the adjacent trenches. All 
this while General AVebb was at Fort Edward, but fourteen miles distant, 
with an army of more than four thousand British regulars. Instead of 
advancing to the relief of Fort William Henry, Webb held a council to 
determine if it were not better to retire to Albany, and sent a message to 
Colonel ]\Ionro advising capitulation. 

For six days the French pressed the siege with vigor. The ammu- 
nition of the garrison was nearly exhausted ; half of the guns were burst ; 
nothing remained but to surrender. Honorable terms were granted. The 
English, retaining their private effects, were released on a pledge not to 



270 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

re-enter the .service for eighteen months. A safe escort was j)romised to 
Fort Edward. On the 9th of August the French took possession of the 
fortress. Unfortunately, the Indians procured a quantity of spirits from 
the English camp. Maddened with intoxication, and in spite of the 
utmost exertions of Montcalm and his officers, the savages fell upon the 
prisoners and began a massacre. Thirty of the English were tomahawked 
and many others dragged away into captivity. The retirement of the 
garrison to Fort Edward became a panic and a rout. 

Such had been the successes of France during the year that the 
English had not a single hamlet or fortress remaining in the whole basin 
of the St. Lawrence. Every cabin where English was spoken had been 
swept out of the Ohio valley. At the close of the year 1757, France pos- 
sessed twenty times as much American territory as England ; and five 
times as much as England and Spain together. Such liad been the im- 
becility of the English management in America that the flag of Great 
Britain was brought into disgrace. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

TWO YEARS OF SUCCESSES. 



r^ REAT was the discouragement in England. The duke of Xewcastle 
^ and his associates in the government were obliged to resign. A new 
ministry was formed, at the head of which was placed that remarkable 
man William Pitt, called the Great Commoner. The imbecile Lord 
Loudoun was deposed from the American army. General Abercrombie 
was appointed to succeed him ; but the main reliance for success was 
placed, not so much on the commander-in-chief, as on an efficient corps 
of subordinate officers whom the wisdom of Pitt now directed to America. 
Admiral Boscawen was put in command of the fleet, consisting of twenty- 
two ships of the line and fifteen frigates. The able general Anihei-st was 
to lead a division. Yoiuig Lord Howe, brave and amiable, was next in 
rank to Abercrombie. The gallant James Wolfe led a brigade. General 
Forbes held an important command ; and Colonel Richard Montgomery 
was at the head of a regiment. 

Three campaigns were planned for 1758. Amherst, acting in con- 



TWO YEARS OF SUCCESSES. 271 

junction with the fleet, was to capture Louisburg. Lord Howe, under 
the direction of the commander-in-chief, was to reduce Crown Point 
and Ticonderoga. The recovery of the Ohio valley was entrusted to 
General Forbes. On the 28th of May, Amherst, at the head of ten 
thousand effective men, reached Halifax. In six days more the fleet was 
anchored in Gabarus Bay. Wolfe put his division into boats, rowed 
through the surf under fire of the French batteries, and gained the shore 
without sei-ious loss. The French dismantled their battery and retreated. 
AYolfe next gained possession of the north-east harbor and planted heavy 
guns on the cape near the lighthouse. From this position the island 
battery of the French was soon silenced. Louisburg was fairly invested, 
and the siege was pressed with great vigor. On the 21st of July three 
French vessels were burned in the harbor. Two days later, the Prudent, 
a seventy-four gun ship, was fired and destroyed by the English boats. 
The town was already a heap of ruins, and the walls of the fortress began 
to crumble. For a whole week the French soldiers had no place where 
they could rest in safety ; of their fifty-two cannon only twelve remained 
in position. Furtlier resistance was hopeless. On tlie 28th of July 
Louisburg cajjitulated. Cape Breton and Prince Edward's Island were sur- 
rendered to Great Britain. The garrison, together with the marines, in 
all nearly six thousand men, became prisoners of war and were sent to 
England. Amherst after his great success abandoned Louisburg, and the 
fleet took station at Halifax. 

Meanwhile, General Abercrombie had not been idle. On the 5th of 
July an army of fifteen thousand men, led by Lord Howe, reached Lake 
George and embarked for Ticonderoga. With heavy guns and abundant 
stores the expedition proceeded to the northern extremity of the lake and 
landed on the western shore. The country about the French fortress was 
very unfavorable for military operations. The English proceeded with 
great difficulty, leaving their artillery behind. Lord Howe led the ad- 
vance in person. On the morning of tiie 6th, M'hen the English were 
nearing the fort, they fell in with the picket line of the French, number- 
ing no more than three hundred. A severe skirmish ensued ; the French 
•were overwhelmed, but not until they had inflicted on the English a 
terrible loss in the death of Lord Howe. The soldiers were stricken with 
grief, and began a retreat to the landing. Abercrombie was in the rear, 
but the soul of the expedition had departed. 

On the morning of the 8th the English engineer reported falsely 
that the fortifications of Ticonderoga were flimsy and trifling. Again the 
army was put in motion ; and when just beyond the reach of the French 
guns, the divisions were arranged to carry the place by assault. For more 



2(2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

than four hours column after column clashed with great bravery against 
the breastworks of the enemy, which were found to be strong and well 
constructed. The defence was made by nearly four thousand French 
under Montcalm, who, with coat off in the hot July afternoon, was ever}'- 
where j)resent encouraging his men. At six o'clock in the evening the 
English were finally rej)uised. The carnage was dreadful, the loss on the 
side of the assailants amounting in killed and wounded to nineteen hun- 
dred and sixteen. In no battle of the Revolution did the British have so 
large a force engaged or meet so terrible a loss. 

The English still outnumbered the French three to one ; and they 
might have easily returned with their artillery and cajitured the fort. But 
Abercrombie was not the man to do it. He returned to Fort George, at 
the head of the lake, and contented himself with sending a force of three 
thousand men under Colonel Bradstreet against Fort Frontenac. This 
fortress was situated on the present site of Kingston, at the outlet of Lake 
Ontario. Marching through the country of the Indians who were still 
friendly to the English, Bradstreet reached Oswego, embarked his forces, 
crossed the lake and landed within a mile of Frontenac. The place was 
feebly defended, and a siege of two days compelled a capitulation. The 
fortress, so important to the French, was demolished. Forty-six cannon, 
nine vessels of war and a vast quantity of stores were the fruits of the 
victory. Except in the waste of life, Bradstreet's success more than coun- 
terbalanced the failure of the English at Ticonderoga. The French were 
everywhere weakened and despairing. In Canada the crops had failed, 
and there was almost a famine. " Peace, peace, no matter \\ith what 
boundaries," was the message which the brave Montcalm sent to the 
French ministry. 

Late in the sunnner, Forbes, at the head of nine thousand men, ad- 
vanced from Philadelphia against Fort du Quesne. Washington led the 
Virginia provincials, and Armstrong, who had so distinguished himself 
at Kittaning, the Pennsylvanians. The main body moved slowly, clear- 
ing a broad road and bridging the streams. "Washington and the pro- 
vincials were impatient. IMajor Grant, more rash than wise, j)ressed on 
to within a few miles of Du Quesne. Attempting to lead the Frencl: 
and Indians into an ambuscade, he was himself ambuscaded, and lost a 
third of his forces. Slowly the main division approached the fort, which 
was defended by no more than five hundred men. On the 24th of No- 
vember, Washington with the advance was within ten miles of Du 
Quesne. During that night the garrison took the alarm, burned the fort- 
ress and floated down the Ohio. On the 25th the victorious army 
marched over the ruined bastions, raised the English flag, and named 



TWO YEARS OF SUCCESSES. 273 

the place Pittsburg. Tlie name of the great British minister was justly 
written over " the gateway of the West." 

General Amherst was now promoted to the chief command of the 
American forces. Parliament cheerfully voted twelve million pounds 
sterling to carry on the war. The colonies exerted themselves to the 
utmost. By the beginning of summer, 1759, the British and colonial 
forces numbered nearly fifty thousand men. The whole population of 
Canada was only eighty-two thousand ; and the entire French army 
scarcely exceeded seven thousand. Nothing less than the conquest of all 
Canada would satisfy Pitt's ambition. Three campaigns were planned 
for the year. General Prideaux was to conduct an expedition against 
Niagara, capture the fortress and descend the lake to Montreal. Amherst 
was to lead the main division against Ticouderoga and Crown Point. 
General Wolfe was to proceed up the St. Lawrence and finish the work 
by capturing Quebec. 

By way of Schenectady and Oswego, Prideaux led his forces to 
Niagara. On the 10th of July the place was invested. The French 
general D'Aubry collected from Detroit, Erie, Le Boeuf and Venango a 
body of twelve hundred men, and marched to the relief of the fort. On 
the 15th, by the accidental bursting of a mortar, General Prideaux was 
killed. Sir William Johnson, succeeding to the command, disposed his 
forces so as to intercept the approaching French. On the morning of the 
24th, D'Aubry's array came in sight. A bloody engagement ensued, in 
which the French were completely routed, leaving their unnumbered 
dead scattered for miles through the forest. On the next day Niagara 
capitulated and received an English garrison. The French forces in the 
to^\^l, to the number of six hundred, became prisoners of M-ar. Commun- 
ication between Canada and Louisiana was for ever broken. 

At the same time Amherst was conquering on Lake Charaplain. 
With an army of more than eleven thousand men he proceeded against 
Ticonderoga. On the 22d of July the English forces were disembarked 
near the landing-place of Abcrcrombic. The French did not dare to 
stand against them. There was a slight skirmish, and then the trenches 
were deserted. Fort Carillon was given up. On the 26th the French 
garrison, having partly destroyed the fortifications, abandoned Ticon- 
deroga and retreated to Crown Point. Five days afterward they de- 
serted this place also, and entrenched themselves on Isle-aux-Noix, in the 
river Sorel. The whole country of Lake Champlain had been recovered 
without a battle. 

It remained for General Wolfe to achieve the final victory-. As 
soon as a tardy spring had cleared the St. La^vrence of ice, he began the 

18 



274 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 




VICINITY OF QUEBEC, 1759. 



ascent of the river. His force consisted of nearly eight thousand men,, 
assisted by a fleet of forty-four vessels under eoinniand of Admiral Saun- 
ders. On the 27th of June the armament arrived without accident at 
the Isle of Orleans, four miles below Quebec. The English camp was 

pitched at the upper end of the 
' island. Wolfe's vessels gave him 
immediate command of the river, 
and the southern bank was unde- 
fended. On the night of the 29th, 
General Monckton was sent with four 
battalions to seize Point Levi. The 
movement was successful, and an 
English battery was planted opposite 
the city. From this position the 
Lower Town was soon reduced to 
ruins, and the Upper Town nuich 
injured ; but the fortress seemed im- 
pregnable. The French, knowing 
that it would be impossible to storm 
the city from the river side, had drawn their line of entrenchment from the 
northern bank of the St. Lawrence, reaching for five miles from the 
Montmorenci to the St. Charles. Here Montcalm with ten or twelve 
thousand French and Canadians awaited the movements of his antagonist. 
Wolfe was restless and anxious for battle. On the 9th of July he 
crossed the north channel, and encamped with his army on the east bank 
of the Montmorenci. It was determined in a council of war to hazard 
an engagement. The Montmorenci was fordable when the tide ran out. 
The attack was planned for July 31st, at the hour of low water. Generals 
Townshend and Murray were ordered to ford the stream with their two 
brigades, and at the same time Monckton's regiments of regulars were to 
cross the St. Lawrence from Point Levi and aid in the assault. The 
signal was given, and the grenadiers of Murray and Townshend dashed 
across the Montmorenci ; but the boats of Monckton ran aground, and there 
was considerable delav. The impatient grenadiers, without waiting for 
orders or support, rushed forward against the French entrenchments, and 
were driven back with great loss. Before the regulars could be formed 
in line the battle was decided. Night was approaching ; the tide rising ; 
a storm portended ; and Wolfe, after losing nearly five hundred men, with- 
drew to his camp. 

Disappointment, exposure and fatigue threw the English general 
iuto a violent fever, and for many days he was confined to his tent. A 



TWO YEARS OF SUCCESSES. 



275 



council of officers was called, and the indomitable leader proposed a second 



lines. But the projiosition was overruled, and 



It 



assault on the French 
was decided to ascend 
the St. Lawrence, and 
if possible gain pos- 
session of the Plains 
of Abraham, in the 
rear of the city. The 
camp on the Mont- 
morenci was accord- 
ingly broken up, and 
on the 6th of Septem- 
ber the troops and ar- 
tillery were conveyed 
to Point Levi. Keep- 
ing the French excited 
with appearances of 
activity, Wolfe again 
transferred his army to 
a point several miles 
up the river. He then 
busied himself with a 
careful examination of 
the northern bank, in 
the hope of finding 

some jtath among the precipitous cliffs by which to gain the plains. On 
the 11th he discovered the place called Wolfe's Cove, and decided that 
here it was possible to make the ascent. Montcalm, deceived by the 
movements of the fleet, was still in the trenches below the city. 

On the night of the 12th of September everything was in readi- 
ness. The English silently entered their transports and dropped down 
the river to the cove. With great difficulty the soldiers clambered up 
the almost perpendicular precipice; the feeble Canadian guard on the 
summit was dispersed ; and in the gray dawn of morning Wolfe mar< 
shaled his army for battle. Montcalm Avas in amazement when he heard 
the news. " They are now on the weak side of this unfortunate town," 
said he ; " and we must crush them before mid-day." With great haste 
the French were brought from the trenches and thrown between Quebeo 
and the advancing English. The battle began with an hour's cannonade ; 
then Montcalm attemj)ted to turn the English flank, but was beaten back. 
The Canadians and Indians were routed. Then came the weakened bat- 




GENERAL JAMES WOLFE. 



276 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

talions of the French ; but they were poorly disciplined ; the ground was 
uneTen, and Montcalm's lines advanced brokenly. The English reserved 
tlieir fire until the advancing columns were within forty yards, and then 
discharged volley after volley. The French wavered and were in con- 
fusion. Wolfe, leading the ciiarge, was wounded in the wrist. Again 
he was struck, but pressed on at the head of his grenadiers. Just at the 
moment of victory a third ball pierced his breast, and he sank quivering 
to the earth. " They run, they run !" said the attendant A\ho bent over 
him. " Who run ?" was the feeble response. " The French are flying 
everywhere," replied the officer. " Do they rim already ? Then I die 
hajipy," said the exjjiring hero; and his spirit passed away amid the 
smoke of battle. Monckton was dangerously wounded and borne from the 
field. Montcalm, still attempting to rally his broken regiments, was 
struck with a ball, and fell. " Shall I survive ?" said he to his surgeon, 
" But a few hours at most," replied the attendant. " So much the better,'' 
replied the heroic Frenchman. " I shall not live to witness the surrender 
of Quebec." 

Further defence of the Canadian stronghold was useless. Five 
days after the battle the French authorities surrendered to General Town- 
shend, and an English garrison took possession of the citadel. The year 
1759 closed with the complete triumph of the English arms. In the 
following spring France made a great efibrt to recover lier losses. A severe 
battle was fought a few miles west of Quebec, and the English were 
driven into the city. But reinforcements came, and the French M'ere 
beaten back. On the 8th of September, in the same year, Montreal, the 
last important post of France in the valley of the St. Lawrence, surren- 
dered to General Amherst. Canada had passed under the dominion of 
England. 

In the spring of 1760 the Cherokees of Tennessee rose against the 
English. Fort Loudoun, in tiie north-eastern extremity of the State, was 
besieged by the Red men, and forced to capitulate. Honorable terms were 
promised to the garrison ; but as soon as the surrender was made, the 
savages fell upon their prisoners and massacred or dragged into captivity 
the whole company. Colonels Montgomery and Grant were despatciied 
by General Amherst to chastise the Indians. After a vigorous campaign 
the savages were driven into the mountains and compelled to sue for 
peace. 

The conquest of Canada was the overthrow of the Frencli power 
in America. It remained, however, for the English authorities to 
take actual possession of the immense territory bordering on the Great 
Lakes. At the time of the capture of INIontreal this vast domain was 



TWO Y£A^S OF SUCCESSES. 277 

held by feeble fortresses, scattered here and there, and garrisoned by 
detachments of French soldiers. The Marquis of Vaudreuil in sur- 
rendering Montreal had stipulated that all the western forts under the 
control of France should be given up to England. In the fall of 1760 
Major Robert Rogers was accordingly despatched by General Amherst, 
with a company of two hundred provincial rangers, to receive the sur- 
render of the outposts. 

By the last of November, Rogers, having ascended the St. Law- 
rence and passed through Lakes Ontario and Erie, reached Detroit. 
Over this, the most important of the French posts in the West, the 
English flag was raised ; Forts Miami on the southern shore of Lake 
^Michigan and Ouatanon on the Wabash were also given up without 
resistance. Rogers then pressed on to take possession of Mackinaw, 
Green Bay and St. Marie, but was turned back by the storms on Lake 
Huron ; and it was not until the following summer that those remote 
fortresses wore garrisoned by detachments of British soldiers. 

No sooner were the English in complete possession of the coun- 
try than they began by neglect and ill-treatment to excite the dor- 
mant passions of the Red men. During the progress of the war the 
111 lians had become completely subordinated by French influence ; 
and the English were hated with all the ferocity of the savage na- 
ture. It was not long till there were mutterings of an outbreak. 
The tribes could not be made to comprehend that Canada had been 
finally taken from their friends, the French. They confidently ex- 
pected the day when the king of France should send new armies and 
exjjcl the detested English. Infiituated with this belief, instigated 
by the French themselves, and stung by many insults real and im- 
aginary, the warriors began their usual atrocities on the frontiers. 
In the summer of 1761, the Senecas conspired with the Wyandots to 
capture Detroit by treachery, and massacre the garrison ; and the plot 
was barely tliwarted by Colonel Campbell, the commandant. In the 
following summer another attempt of a similar sort was discovered 
and defeated. It was in this condition of affairs that the celebrate«3 
Pontiac came forward and organized the most far-reaching and dan-i 
gerous conspiracy ever known among the Indian tribes of America. 

Pontiac was chief of the Ottawas, whose principal seat was the 
district between Lakes Erie and Michigan. In the somewhat pro- 
longed interval between the conquest of Canada and the treaty of 
1763, this sagacious warrior, doubting the possibility of a peace be- 
tween the rival nations, conceived the design of uniting all the Indian 
tribes from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi in an overwhelming 



278 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



confederacy, which should upon a given day strike all the English 
forts upon the frontier a deadly blo\v, and sweeji away in a common 
ruin every English family west of the mountains. The plot was con- 
structed with the White man's skill and the Red man's cunning. Tlie 
7th of May, 1763, was named as the day of destruction. But when 
the time came the impatient savage tribes were unable to act in per- 
fect concert, and ultimate failure was the consequence, though the 
immediate result was terribly disastrous. 

Pontiac reserved for himself the most difficult task of all — the 
capture of Detroit. But in the hour of impending doom, woman's 
love interposed to save the garrison from butchery. An Indian girl 
of the Ojibwa nation, came to the fort with a pair of moccasins for 




THE REVELATION OF PONTIAr'S CONSPIHACY. 



Major GladwA'u, the commandant, and in parting with him manifested 
iinusual agitation and distress. She was seen to linger at the street 
corner, and the sentinel summoned her to return to the major's quar- 
ters. There, after much persuasion and many assurances of protec- 
tion, she yielded to his urgent inquiries into tlie cause of her grief 
and revealed the plot. When Pontiac's band <iii the following day 
attempted to gain the fort by treachery, they found every soldier and 
citizen under arms and ready to receive them. Then followed a 
protracted siege, and the savage horde was finally driven off". But 



TWO YEARS OF SUCCESSES. 279 

in all other quarters the attacks were attended with the most fatal 
results. On tlie 16th of May Fort Sandusky was taken and burned, 
and the garrison butchered by a band of Wyandots. A few days 
later Fort St. Joseph sutiered a similar fate at the hands of the Pot- 
tawattamies. On the 29th of the month Fort Mackinaw was taken 
and its defenders nearly all murdered by the Chippeways. One out- 
post after another was captured and burned, until by the middle of 
summer every English fort in the West, except Niagara, Fort Pitt 
and Detroit, had fallen into the hands of the savages. But in the 
mean time rumors of a treaty between France and England were 
borne to the Red men ; and they, becoming alarmed at their own 
atrocities, began to sue for peace. The confederacy crumbled into 
nothing. Every tribe seemed as anxious to avoid the conseipiences 
■as it had been to take up the hatchet. Pontiac and his band of Ot- 
tawas held out for two years longer; then, abandoned by his follow- 
ers, he fled to the Illinois, among whom he was finally killed in a 
drunken brawl at the Indian town of Cahokia, opposite St. Louis. 

For three years after the tall of Montreal the war between 
France and England lingered on the ocean. The English fleets were 
everywhei'e victorious. On the 10th of February, 1763, a treaty of 
peace was made at Paris. All the French possessions in North Amer- 
ica eastward of the Mississijjpi from its source to the river Iberville, 
and thence through Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the Gulf 
of Mexico, were surrendered to Great Britain. At the same time 
Spain, with whom England had been at war, ceded East and West 
Florida to the English Crown. As reciprocal with this provision 
France was obliged to make a cession to Spain of all that vast terri- 
tory west of the Mississippi, known as the Province of Louisiana. 
By the sweeping provisions of this treaty the French king lost his 
entire possessions in the New World. Thus closed the French and 
Indian War, one of the most important in the history of mankind. 
By this conflict it was decided that the decaying institutions of the 
Middle Ages should not prevail in the West; and that the powerful 
language, laws and liberties of the English race should be planted 
for ever in the vast domains of the New World. 



280 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES. 

BEFORE entering upon the stirring events of the Revolution, it 
will be of interest to glance at the general condition of the 
American Colonies. There were thirteen of them : four in New 
England, — Massaehusett.s, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hamp- 
shire; four Middle Colonics, — Xew York, New Jersey, Pennsvlva- 
nia, Delaware; five Southern, — Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia. All had grown and prospered. The ele- 
ments of power were everywhere present. A willful, patriotic, and 
vigorous race of democrats had taken possession of the New World. 
Institutions unknown in Europe, peculiar to the West, made neces- 
sary by the condition and surroundings of the colonies, had sprung 
up and M-ere taking deep root in American soil. 

According to estimates made for the year 1760 the population 
of the colonies amounted to a million six hundred and ninety-five 
thousand .souls. Of these about three hundred and ten thousand were 
blacks. Massachusetts was at this period perha25S the strongest col- 
ony, having more than two hundred thousand people of European 
ancestry within her borders. True, Virginia was the most populous, 
having an aggregate of two hundred and eighty-four thousand inhab- 
itants, but of these one hundred and sixteen thousand were Africans, 
slaves. Next in strength stood Pennsylvania with a jjojjulation of 
nearly two hundred thousand ; next Connecticut with her hundred 
and thirty thousand people ; next Maryland with a hundred and four 
thousand; then New York with eighty-five thousand; New Jersey not 
quite as many; then South Carolina, and so through the feebler col- 
onics to Georgia, in whose borders were less than five thousand in- 
habitants, including the negroes. 

By the middle of the eighteenth century the people of the Amer- 
ican colonies had to a certain extent assumed a national character; but 
they were still strongly marked with the peculiarities which their an- 
cestors had brought from Europe. In New England, especially in ]Mas- 
sachusetts and Connecticut, the principles and practices of Puritanism 
still held universal sway. On the banks of the Hudson the language, 
manners, and customs of Holland were almost as prevalent as they 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES. 



281 



had been a luindred years before. By the Delaware the Quakers 
were gathered in such numbers as to control all legislation, and to 
prevent serious innovations upon the simple methods of civil and 
social organization introduced by Penn. On the northern bank of 
the Potomac, the youth- 
ful Frederick, the .sixth 
Lord Baltimore, a friv- 
olous and dissolute gov- 
ernor, ruled a people 
who still conformed to 
the order of things es- 
tablished a hundred and 
thirty years previously 
by Sirs George and Ce- 
cil Calvert. In Vir- 
ginia, mother of States 
and statesmen, the peo- 
ple had all their old 
peculiarities ; a some- 
what haughty demean- 
or ; pride of ancestry ; 
fondness for aristocratic 
sports; hospitality; love 
of freedom. The North 
Carolinians were at this 
epoch the same rugged 
and insubordinate race 
of hunters that they had 
always been. The leg- 
islative assembly, in its 
controversies with Gov- 
ernor Dobbs, manifested all the intractable stubbornness which char- 
acterized that body in the days of Seth Sothel. In South Carolina 
there was much prosperity and happiness. But there, too, popular 
liberty had been enlarged by the constant encroachment of the leg- 
islature upon the royal prerogative. The people, mostly of French 
iescent, were as hot-blooded and jealous of their rights as their an- 
cestors had been in the times of the first immigrations. Of all the 
American colonies Georgia had at this time least strength and spirit. 
Under the system of government established at the first the common- 
wealth had languished. Not until 1754, when Governor Eevnolds 




THE 01,D THIRTEEN COLONIES. 



282 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

assumed control of the colony, clkl the affairs of the people on the 
Savannah begin to flourish. Even afterwards, something of the 
indigence and want of thrift which had marked the followers of 
Oglethorpe still prevailed in Georgia. Nevertheless, after making 
allowance for all tliese differences of colonial character, a consid- 
erable degree of American unity had been attained ; inter-colonial 
relations were well established; and the people were far less antag- 
onistic and sectional than they had been. 

In matters of education New England took the lead. Her 
system of free schools extended everywhere from the Hudson to the 
Penobscot. Every village furnished facilities for the acquirement of 
knowledge. So complete and universal were the means of instruc- 
tion that in the times j)receding the Revolution there was not to be 
found in all Neio England an adult, born in the country, who could 
not read and write. Splendid achievement of Puritanism ! In the 
Middle Colonies education was not so general ; but in Pennsylvania 
there was much intelligent activity among the peo2)le. Especially in 
Philadelphia did the illustrious Franklin scatter the light of learn- 
ing. South of the Potomac educational facilities were irregular and 
generally designed for the benefit of the wealthier classes. But in 
some localities the means of enlightenment were well provided; in- 
stitutions of learning sprang up scarcely inferior to those of the East- 
ern pi'ovinces, or even of Europe. Nor should the private schools of 
the colonial times be forgotten. Many men — Scottish reformers, Irish 
liberals, and French patriots — despising the bigotry and intolerance 
of their countrymen, fled for refuge to the New World, and there by 
the banks of the Housatonic, tlie Hudson, the Delaware, the Poto- 
mac, the Ashley, and the Savannah, taught the lore of books and 
the lesson of liberty to the rugged boys of the American wilderness. 
Among the Southern colonies Virginia led the van in matters' of edu- 
cation ; while Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia lagged behind. 
Previous to the Eevolution nine colleges worthy of the name had 
been established in the colonies. These were Harvard, William and 
Mary, Yale, Princeton, King's (now called Columbia), Brown, Queen's 
(afterwards called Rutgers), Dartmouth, and Hampden and Sydney. 
In 1764 the first medical college was founded, at Philadelphia. 

Of the printing-press, that other great agent and forerunner of 
civilization, the work was already effective. As early as 1704 the 
Boston News-Letter, first of periodicals in the New World, was pub- 
lished in the city of the Puritans; but fifteen years elapsed before 
another experiment of the .same sort was made. In 1721 the New 
England C'onrant, a little sheet devoted to free thought and the ex- 



CONDITION OF THE COLONIES. 283 

tinction of rascality, was established at Boston by the two Franklins 
— James and Benjamin. In 1740 Xew York had but one period- 
ical, Virginia one, and South Carolina one ; and at the close of the 
French and Indian "War, there were no more than ten newspapers 
published in the colonies. The chief obstacles to such publications 
were the absence of great cities and the difficulty of communication 
between distant sections of the country. Boston and Philadelphia 
had each no more than eighteen thousand inhabitants; New York 
but twelve thousand. In all Virginia there was not one important 
town; while as far south as Georgia there was scarcely a considerable 
village. To reach this widely scattered population with periodical 
publications was rpiite impossible. Books were few, and of little 
value. Some dry volumes of history, theology, and politics were the 
only stock and store. On the latter subject the publications were 
sometimes full of pith and spirit. But notwithstanding this barren- 
ness of books and general poverty of the resources of knowledge, it 
was no unusual thing to find at the foot of the Virginia mountains, 
in the quiet precincts of Philadelphia, by the banks of the Hudson, 
or in the valleys of New England, a man of great and solid learn- 
ing. Such a man was Thomas Jefferson ; such were Franklin, and 
Livingston, and the Adamses — men of profound scholarship, bold in 
thought, ready with the pen, skillful in argument ; studious, witty, 
and eloquent. 

Nothing impeded the progress of the colonies more than tlic 
want of thoroughfares and easy communication between the different 
sections. No general system of post-offices or post-roads had as yet 
been established ; and the people were left in comparative or total 
ignorance of passing events. No common sentiments could be ex- 
pressed — no common enthusiasm be kindled in the country — by the 
slow-going mails and packets. The sea-coast towns and cities found 
a readier intercourse by means of small sloops plying the Atlantic ; 
l)ut the inland districts were wholly cut off from such advantages. 
Roads were slowly l)uilt from point to point, and lines of travel by 
coach and wagon were gradually established. To the very beginning 
of the Revolution the people lived apart, isolated and dependent upon 
their own resources for life and enjoyment. When in 1766 an ex- 
press wagon made the trip from New York to Philadelphia in two 
days, it was considered a marvel of rapidity. Six years later the first 
stage-coach began to run regularly between Boston and Providence.* 

' It is remarkable to note how tartlily the attention of a people will be turned to the 
building of roads. Thus, for instance, in so old a country as Scotland there were no 
great thoroughfares constructed until after the Scotch Rebellion of 1745. 



284 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Before the Revolution the Americans were for the most part 
an agricultural people. Within the tide-water line of Virginia the 
lands were divided into estates, and the planters devoted themselves 
almost exclusively to the cultivation of tobacco. Farther inland the 
products were more various : wheat, maize, potatoes ; upland cotton, 
hemp, and flax. In the Carolinas and Georgia the rice ci-op was 
most impoi'tant; after that, indigo, cotton, and some silk; tar, tur- 
j^entine, and what the hunter and fisherman gathered from the woods 
and streams. New York, Philadelphia and Bosto.i were then as now 
the great centers of trade ; but commerce was carried on in a slow 
and awkward manner, wholly unlike the rushing activity of more 
recent times. Ship-building Mas one of the most important colonial 
interests. In the year 1738 no less than forty-one sailing vessels, 
with an average burden of a hundred and fifty tons, were built and 
launched at the ship-yards of Boston. New England was the seat of 
whatever manufacturing interest prevailed in the country. But all 
enterprise in this direction was checked and impeded by the British 
Board of Trade, whose stupid and arbitrary restrictions acted as a 
damper on every kind of colonial thrift. No sooner would sonie 
enterprising company of New England men begin the building of a 
factory than this officious Board would interfere in such a M'ay as to 
make success impossible. So jealous wa.s the English ministry of 
American jirogress ! If, previous to the Revolution, any colonial 
manufacture was successfully established, it was done againsl the will 
of Great Britain, and in spite of her mean and churlish opposition. 

Such were the American colonies — such the people whose bud- 
ding nationality was now to be exposed to the blasts of war. These 
people, whose ancestors had been driven into exile by the exactions 
of European governments and the bigotry of ecclesiastical power, had 
become the I'ightful proprietors of the New World. They had fairly 
won it from savage man and savage nature. They had subdued it 
and built States within it. They owned it by all the claims of actual 
possession; by toil and trial; by the ordeal of suSering; by peril, 
privation, and hardship; by the baptism of sorrow and the shedding 
of blood. No wonder that patriotism was the child of such travail 
and discipline ! No wonder that the men who from mountain and 
sky and river, from orchard and valley and forest, from the memo- 
ries of the past, the aspirations of the present and the hopes of thf 
future, had drank in the spirit of Liberty until their souls were per- 
vaded with her sublime essence, — were now ready when the iron heel 
of oppression was set upon their cherished rights, to draw the vindic- 
tive sword even asrainst the venerable monarchv of Ensxlandl 



PART lY. 

REYOLUTIOX AND COI^FEDERATIOK 

A. D. 1775-1789. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 
CAUSES. 

THE war of American Independence was an event of vast moment, 
affecting the destinies of all nations. The question decided by the 
conflict was this : Whether the English colonies in America, becoming 
sovereign, should govern themselves or be ruled as dependencies of a 
European monai'chy. The decision was rendered in favor of separation 
and independence. The result has been the grandest and most promising 
example of republican government in the history of the world. The 
struggle was long and distressing, though not characterized by great 
violence ; the combatants were of the same race and spoke a common lan- 
guage. It is of the first importance to understand the causes of the war. 

The most general cause of the American Revolution M'as the eight 
OF ARBITRARY GOVEEXMEXT, claimed by Great Britain and denied by 
the colonies. So long as this claim was asserted by England only as a 
theory, the conflict was postponed ; when the English government began 
to enforce the principle in practice, the colonies resisted. The question 
began to be openly discussed about the time of the treaty of Aix-la- 
Chapelle, in 1748 ; and from that period until the beginning of hostilities, 
in 1775, each year witnessed a renewal of the agitation. But there were 
also many subordinate causes tending to bring on a conflict. 

First of these Avas the influence of France, which was constantly 
exerted so as to incite a spirit of resistance in the colonies. The French 
king would never have agreed to the treaty of 1763 — by which Canada 
was ceded to Great Britain — had it not been with the hope of securing 
American independence. It was the theory of France that by giving up 
Canada on the north the English colonies would become .so strong as to 
renounce their allegiance to the crown. England feared such a result. 

More than once it was proposed in Parliament to re-cede Canada to Ffance 

(285) 



286 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

in order to check the growth of the American States. " There, now !" 
said a French statesman when the treaty of 1763 was signed ; " we have 
arranged matters for an American rebellion in which England will lose 
her empire in the "West." 

Another cause leading to the Revolution was found in the natural 
disposition and inherited character of the colonists. They were, for the 
most part, republicans in politics and dissenters in religion. The people 
of England were monarchists and High Churclimcn. The colonists had 
never seen a king. The Atlantic lay between them and the British min- 
istry. Their dealings with the royal officers had been such as to engender 
a dislike i'or monarchical institutions. The jjcople of America had not 
forgotten — could ncit well forget — the circumstances under which their 
ancestors had come to the New World. For six generations the colonists 
had managed their own affairs ; and their methods of government were 
necessarily republican. The experiences of the French and Indian War 
had shown that Americans M'cre fully able to defend themselves and their 
country. 

The ffrowth of public opinion in the colonies tended to independence. 
The more advanced thinkers came to believe that a complete separation 
from England was not only possible, but desirable. As early as 1755, John ■ 
Adams, then a young school-teacher in Connecticut, wrote in his diary : 
" In another century all Europe will not be able to subdue us. The only 
way to keep us from setting up for ourselves is to disunite us." Such 
opinions were at first expressed only in private, then by hints in pam- 
phlets and newspapers, and at last publicly and everywhere. The mass 
of the peojile, however, were slow to accept an idea which seemed so rad- 
ical and dangerous. Not luitil the war had actually begun did the ma- 
jority declare for independence. 

Another cause of the conflict with the mother country was found in 
the personal character of the kii>g. George III., who ascended the Eng- 
lish throne in 1760, was one of the worst monarchs of modern times. 
His notions of government were altogether despotic. He was a stubborn, 
stupid, thick-headed man in Avhose mind the notion of human rights was 
entirely Avanting. It was impossible for him to conceive of a magnan- 
imous project or to appreciate the value of civil liberty. His reign of 
sixty years was as odious as it was long. In the management of tJie 
British empire he employed only those who were the narrow-minded 
partisans of his own policy. His ministers were, for the most part, men 
as incompetent and illiberal as himself With sucii a king and sucn a 
ministry it was not likely that the descendants of the Pilgrims would get 
on smoothly. 



CAUSES. 287 

The more immediate cause of the Revolution was the passage by 
Parliament of a number of acts destructive of colonial liberty. These acts 
M-ere resisted by the colonies, and the attempt was made by Great Britain 
to enforce them with the bayonet. The subject of this unjust legislation, 
which extended over a period of twelve years just preceding the war, was 
the question of taxation. It is a well-grounded principle of English 
common law that the people, by their representatives in the House of 
Commons, have the right of voting whatever taxes and customs are neces- 
sary for the support of the kingdom. The American colonists claimed 
the full rights of Englishmen. With good reason it was urged that the 
general assemblies of colonies held the same relation to the American 
people as did the House of Commons to the people of England. The 
English ministers replied that Parliament, and not the colonial assemblies, 
was the proper body to vote taxes in any and all parts of the British 
empire. But we are not represented in Parliament, was the answer of 
the Americans ; the House of Commons may therefore justly assess taxes 
in England, but not in America. Many of the towns, boroughs and 
shires in these British isles have no representatives in Parliament, and 
yet the Parliament taxes them, rej)lied the ministers, now driven to 
eophistrv. If any of your towns, boroughs and shires are not represented 
in the House of Commons, they ougid to be, was the American rejoinder ; 
and there the argument ended. Such were the essential points of the 
controversy. It is now proper to notice the several parliamentarj^ acts 
which the colonies comjilained of and resisted. 

The first of these was the Importation Act, passed in 1733. 
This statute was itself a kind of supplement to the old Navigation Act 
of 1651. By the terms of the newer law exorbitant duties M'ere laid on 
all the sugar, molasses and rum imported into the colonies. At first the 
payment of these unreasonable customs was evaded by the merchants, 
and then the statute was openly set at naught. In 1750 it was further 
enacted that iron-works should not be erected in America. The man- 
ufacture of steel was specially forbidden ; and the felling of pines, outside 
of enclosures, was interdicted. All of these laws were disregarded and 
denounced by the people of the colonies as being unjust and tyrannical. 
In 1761 a strenuous effort was made by the ministry to enforce the Im- 
portation Act. The colonial ♦courts were authorized to issue to the king's 
officers a kind of search-warrants, called Writs of Assistance. Armed, 
with this authority, petty constables might enter any and every place, 
searching for and seizing goods which were suspected of having evaded 
the duty. At Salem and Boston the greatest excitement prevailed. The 
application for the writs was resisted before the courts. James Otis, an 



288 HISTOIiY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

able and temperate man, pleaded eloquently for eolonial rights, and de- 
nounced the parliamentary acts as unconstitutional. The address M'as a 
masterly defence of the people, and produced a profound sensation through- 
out the colonies. Already there were hints at resistance by force of arms. 
In 1763, and again in the following year, the English ministers 
undertook to enforce the law requiring the payment of duties on sugar 
and molasses. The officers of the admiralty Mere authorized to seize and 
confiscate all vessels engaged in the unlawful trade. Before the passage 
of this act Avas known at Boston, a great town-meeting was held. Samuel 
Adams Avas the orator. A powerful argument was produced showing 
conclusively that under the British constitution taxation and representa- 
tion were insejiarable. Nevertheless, vessels from the English navy were 
sent to hover around the American liarbors. A great number of mer- 
chantmen bearing cargoes of sugar and wine were seized; and the colonial 
trade with the West Indies was almost destroyed. 

The year 1764 witnessed the first formal declaration of the purpose 
of Parliament to tax the colonies. Mr. Grenville was now prime minis- 
ter. On the 10th of March a resolution was adopted by the House of 
Commons declaring that it would be proper to charge certain stamp- 
duties on the American colonies. It was announced that a bill embody- 
ing this principle would be prepared by the ministers and presented at 
the next session of Parliament. In the mean time, the news of the pro- 
posed measure was borne to America. Universal excitement and indig- 
nation prevailed in the colonies. Political meetings became the order of 
the day. Orators were in great demand. The newspapers teemed with 
arguments against the proposed enactment. Resolutions were passed by 
the people of almost every town. Formal remonstrances -were addressed 
to the king and the two houses of Parliament. Agents -were aj)pointed 
by the colonies and sent to London in the hope of preventing the passage 
of the law. 

A new turn was now given to the controversy. The French and 
Indian War had just been concluded with a treaty of peace. Great 
Britain had incurred a heavy deljt. The ministers began to urge that the 
expenses of the war ought to be borne by the colonies. The Americans 
replied that England ought to defend her colonies, from motives of 
humanity ; ':hat in the prosecution of the war the colonists had aided 
Great Britain as much as Great Britain had aided them ; that the cession 
of Canada had amply remunerated England for her losses ; that it was 
not the payment of money Avhich the colonies dreaded, but the suri-cndcr 
of their liberties. It was also added that in case of another war the 
American States would try to fight their own battles. 



CAUSES. 289 

Early in March of 1765, the English Parliament, no longer guided 
by the counsels of Pitt, passed the celebrated Stamp Act. In the House 
of Commons the measure received a majority of five to one. In the 
House of Lords the vote was unanimous. At the time of the passage of 
the act the king was in a fit of insanity, and could not sign the bill. On 
the 22d of the month the royal assent was given by a board of commis- 
sioners acting for the king. " The sun of American liberty has set," 
wrote Benjamin Franklin to a friend at home. " Now we must light the 
lamps of industry and economy." " Be assured," said the friend, in reply, 
" that we shall light torches of another sort." And the answer reflected 
the sentiment of the whole country. 

The provisions of the Stamp Act were briefly these : Every note, 
bond, deed, mortgage, lease, license and legal document of whatever sort, 
required in the colonies, should, after the 1st day of the following No- 
vember, be executed on paper bearing an English stamp. This stamped 
paper was to be fiirnislied by the British government ; and for each sheet 
the colonists were required to pay a sum varying, according to the nature 
of the document, from three pence to six pounds sterling. Every colonial 
pamphlet, almanac and newspaper was required to be printed on paper 
of the same sort, the value of the stamps in this case ranging from a half- 
penny to four pence ; every advertisement was taxed two shillings. No 
C(mtract should be of any binding force unless written on paper bearing 
the royal stamp. 

The news of the hateful act swept over America like a thunder- 
cloud. The people were at first grief-stricken ; then indignant ; and then 
wrathful. Crowds of excited men surged into the towns, and there were 
some acts of violence. The muffled bells of Philadelphia and Boston 
rung a funeral peal ; and the people said it was the death-knell of liberty. 
In New York a copy of the Stamp Act was carried through the streets 
M'ith a death's-head nailed to it, and a placard bearing this inscription : 
The Folly of England and the Ruin of America. The general 
assemblies were at first slow to move ; there were many loyalists among 
the members ; and the colonial governors held their offices by appointment 
of the king. It was hazardous for a provincial legislator to say that an 
act of the British Parliament was the act of tyrants. But the younger 
representatives, hot-blooded as well as patriotic, did not hesitate to ex- 
press their sentiments. In the Virginia House of Burgesses there was a 
memorable scene. 

Patrick Henry, the youngest member of the House, an uneducated 
mountaineer recently chosen to represent Louisa county, waited for some 
older delegate to lead the burgesses in opposition to Parliament. But the 



290 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



older members hesitatetl or went home. Offended at this lukewarmness. 
Henrv in his passionate way snatched a blank-leaf out of an old law- 
book and hastily drew up a series of fiery resolutions, declaring that the 

Virginians were Eng- 
lishmen with English 
rights ; that the people 
of Great Britain had 
the exclusive privilege 
of voting their own 
taxes, and so had the 
Americans ; tliat the 
colonists were not 
bound to yield obedi- 
ence to any law im- 
posing taxation on 
them ; and that who- 
ever said the contrary 
was an enemy to the 
country. The resolu- 
tions were at once laid 
before the house. 

A violent de- 
bate ensued, in which 
the patriots had the 
best of the argument. 
It was a moment of 
intense interest. Two 
future Presidents of the United States were in the audience ; Washington 
occupied his seat as a delegate, and Thomas .Jeiferson, a young collegian, 
stood just outside of the railing. The clocpient and audacious Henry 
bore down all opposition. " Tarquin and Csesar had each his Brutus," 
said the indignant orator ; " Charles I. had his Cromwell, and George 
III. — " " Treason !" shouted the speaker. " Treason ! treason !" exclaimed 
the terrified loyalists, springing to their feet. " — And George III. may 
profit by their example," continued Henry ; and then added as he took 
his seat, " If that be treason, make the most of it !" The resolutions were 
put to the house and carried ; but the majorities on some of the votes were 
small, and the next day, Avhen Henry was absent, the most violent par- 
agraph was reconsidered and exj)unged : some of the members were 
greatly frightened at their own audacity. But the resolutions in their 
entire form had gone before the country as the formal expression of the 




PATRICK HtNKY. 



CAUSES. 291 

oldest American commonwealth, and the effect on the other colonies was 
like the shock of a battery. 

Similar resolutions were adopted by the assemblies of New York 
and ^lassachusetts — in the latter State before the action of Virginia was 
known. At Boston, James Otis successfully agitated the question of an 
American Congress. It was iiroposed that each colony, acting without 
leave of the king, should ajjjjoint delegates, who should meet in the fol- 
lowing autumn and discuss the affairs of the nation. The proposition was 
favorably received ; nine of the colonies appointed delegates ; and on the 
7th of October the First Colonial Congress assembled at New York. 
There were twenty-eight representatives : Timothy Ruggles of Massachu- 
setts was chosen president. After much discussion A Declaration of 
Rights M^as adopted setting forth in unmistakable terms that the Amer- 
ican colonists, as Englishmen, could not and would not consent to be 
taxed but by their own representatives. Memorials were also prepared 
and addressed to the two houses of Parliament. A manly j)ctition, pro- 
fessing loyalty and praying for a more just and humane jjolicy toward 
his American subjects, was directed to the king. 

The 1st of November came. On that day the Stamp Act was to 
take effect. During the summer great quantities of the stamjied j^aper 
had been prepared and sent to America. Ten boxes of it were seized by 
the people of New York and opeidy destroyed. In Connecticut, the 
stamp-officer was threatened with hanging. In Boston, houses were de- 
stroyed and the stamps given to the winds and flames. Whole cargoes 
of the obnoxious paper were reshipped to England ; and every stamp- 
officer in America was obliged to resign or leave the country. By the 
1st of November there were scarcely stamps enough remaining to furnish 
after times with specimens. The day was kept as a day of mourning. 
The stores were closed ; flags were hung at half mast ; the bells M-ere 
tolled ; effigies of the authors and abettors of the Stamp Act were borne 
about in mockery, and then burned. The people of New Hampshire 
formed a funeral procession and buried a coffin bearing the inscription of 
Liberty. A cartoon was circulated hinting at union as the remedy for 
existing evils. The picture represented a snake broken into sections. 
Each joint was labeled with the initials of a colony ; the head was marked 
" N. E." for New England ; and the title was Join or Die ! 

At first, legal business wa.s almost entirely suspended. The court- 
houses were shut up. Society was at a standstill ; not even a marriage 
license could be legally issued. By and by, the people breathed more 
freely ; the offices were opened, and business went on as before ; but was 
not transacted with stamped paper. It was at this juncture that the 



-292 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

patriotic society known as the Soxs of Liberty was organized. The 
members were pledged to oppose British tyranny to the utmost, and to 
defend with their lives the freedom of tiie colonies. Equally important 
■was the actinn of tiie colonial merchants. The importers of New York, 
Boston and Philadelphia entered into a solemn compact to purchase no 
more goods of Great Britain until the Stamp Act should be repealed 
And the people, applauding the action of their merchants, cheerfully de- 
nied themselves of all imported luxuries. 

Great was the wrath of the British government when the news of 
these proceedings was borne across the ocean. But a large party of Eng- 
lish tradesmen and manufactm-ers sided with the colonists. Better still, 
some of the most eminent statesmen espoused the cause of America. Even 
Lord Camden in the House of Lords spoke favorably of colonial rights. 
Bef )re the House of Commons Mr. Pitt delivered a powerful address. 
" You have," said he, "no right to tax America. I rejoice that America 
iias resisted. Three millions of our fellow-subjects so lost to every sense 
of virtue as tamely to give up their liberties would be fit instruments to 
malie slaves of the rest." The new ^^'llig prime minister, the marquis 
of Rockingham, Avas also a friend of the colonies, and looked with dis- 
favor on the legislation of his predecessor. On the 18th of ^larch, 1766, 
the Stamp Act was formally repealed. As a kind of balm to soothe the 
wounded feelings of the Tories — as the adherents of Grenville were now 
called — a supplemental resolution was added to the repeal declaring that 
Parliament had the right to bind the colonics in all cases whatsoever. 

The joy both in England and America was unbounded. The 
vessels in the river Thames were decked with flags, and the colonial 
orators spoke to enthusiastic crowds gathered around bonfires. There was 
a great calm in all the country ; but it was only the lull before the com- 
ing of a greater storm. A few mouths after the repeal of the Stamp Act 
the ministry of Rockingham was dissolved and a new cabinet formed 
under the leadership of Pitt, who was now made earl of Chatliam. Un- 
fortunately, iMwever, the prime minister was for a long time confined by 
sickness to his home in the country. During his absence, Mr. Towns- 
hend, chancellor of the exchequer, in a moment of unparalleled folly, 
brought forward a new scheme for taxing America. On the 29th of June, 
1767, an act was passed imposing a duty on all the glass, paper, painters' 
colors and tea which should thereafter be imported into the colonies. 
At the same time a resolution was ado])ted suspending the powers of the 
ireneral assembly of New York until that body should vote certain sup- 
plies for the royal troops stationed in the province. A more rash and 
disastrous piece of legislation never was enacted. 



CAUSES. 293 

All the smothered resentment of the colonies buret out anew. 
Another agreement not to purchase British goods was immediately en- 
tered into by the American merchants. The newspapers were filled with 
bitter denunciations of Parliament. Early in 1768 tiie assembly of JNIas- 
sachusetts adopted a circular calling ujjon the other colonies for assistance 
in the eifort to obtain redress of grievances. The ministers were enraged 
and required the assembly in the king's name to rescind their action, and 
to express regret for tliat " rash and hasty proceeding." Instead of that, 
the sturdy legislature reaffirmed the resolution by a nearly unanimous 
vote. Thereupon Governor Bernard dissolved the assembly ; but the 
members would not disperse until they had prepared a list of charges 
against the governor and requested the king to remove him. 

In the month of June fuel was added to the flame. A sloop, 
charged with attempting to evade the payment of duty, was seized by the 
custom-house officers. The people ro-e in a mob ; attacked the houses 
of the officers, and obliged the occupants to seek shelter in Castle Williaiu, 
at the entrance of the harbor. The governor now appealed to the min- 
isters for help ; and General Gage, commander-in-chief of the British 
forces in America, was ordered to bring from Halifax a regiment of reg- 
ulars and overawe the people. On the 1st of October the troops, seven 
hundred strong, marched with fixed bayonets into the capital of Mas- 
sachusetts. The people were maddened by this military invasion of their 
cit)\ When the governor required the selectmen of Boston to provide 
quarters for the soldiers, he was met with an absolute refusal ; and the 
troops were quartered in the state-house. 

In February of 1769, Parliament advanced another step toward 
war. The people of Massachusetts were declared rebels, and the governor 
was directed to arrest those deemed guilty of treason and send them to 
England for trial. The general assembly met tiiis additional outrage 
with defiant resolutions. Scenes almost as violent as these were at the 
same time enacted in Virginia and North Carolina. In the latter State 
a popular insurrection was suppressed by Governor Tryon ; the insur- 
gents, escaping across the mountains, obtained lands of the Cherokees, and 
became tiie founders of Tennessee. 

Early in 1770 a serious affi-ay occurred in New York. The 
soldiers wantonly cut down a liberty pole which had stood for several 
years in the park. A conflict ensued, in which the people came out best ; 
another pole was erected in the northern part of the city. On the 5th 
of March a more serious difficulty occurred in Boston. An altercation 
had taken place between a party of citizens and the soldiers. A crowd 
gathered, surrounded Captain Preston's comjjany of the city guard, hooted 



294 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

at them, and dared them to fire. At length the exasperated soldiers dis- 
charged a volley, killing three of the citizens and wounding several othere. 
This outrage, known as the Boston Massacre, created a profound sensa- 
tion. The city was ablaze with excitement. Several thousand men 
assembled under arms. Governor Hutchinson came out, j)romising that 
justice should be done and trying to appease the multitude. The brave 
Samuel Adams spoke for the people. An immediate withdrawal of the 
troops from the city was demanded, and the governor was obliged to 
yield. Captain Preston and his company were arrested and tried for 
murder. The prosecution was conducted with great spirit, and two of 
the offenders were convicted of manslaughter. 

On the very day of the Boston massacre. Lord North, who had 
become prime minister, secured the passage by Parliament of an act re- 
pealing all the duties on American imports except that on tea. The 
exception was made only to show that the right of taxing the colonies 
was not relinquished. The merchants of New York and Boston at once 
relaxed their non-importation agreement except so far as it related to tea ; 
to that extent the compact was retained ; and the people voluntarilj'' 
pledged themselves to use no more tea until the duty should be uncon- 
ditionally repealed. The antagonism toward the mother country M-a,s 
abating somewhat, when in 1772 an act was passed by Parliament requir- 
ing that the salaries of the governor and judges of IMassachusetts should 
be paid out of the colonial revenues without consent of the assembly. 
That body retaliated by a declaration that the j)arliamcntary statute was 
a violation of the chartered rights of the people, and therefore void. 
About the same time the Gaspee, a royal schooner which had liccn annoy- 
ing the people of Providence, was boarded by a company of patriots and 
burned. 

In 1773 the ministers attempted to enforce the tea-tax by a strat- 
agem. Owing to the duty, the price of tea in the American market liad 
been doubled. But there Mas no demand for the article; for the people 
would not buy. As a consequence the warehouses of Great Britain were 
stored with vast quantities of tea, awaiting shipment to America. Par- 
liament now removed the export duty M'hich had hitherto been charged 
on tea shipped from England. The j)rice was by so much lowered ; and 
the ministers persuaded themselves that, when the cheaper tea was offered 
in America, the silly colonists would pay their own import dut)' without 
suspicion or complaint. 

To carry out this scheme English ships were loaded with tea for 
the American market. Some of the vessels reached Charleston ; the tea 
was landed, but the people forbade its sale. The chests were stored in 



CAUSES. 



295 



mouldy cellars, and the contents ruined. At XeM' York and Philadelphia 
the ports were closed and the ships forbidden to enter. At Boston the 
vessels entered the harbor. The tea had been consigned to Governor Hut- 
chinson and his friends ; and special precautions were taken to prevent a 
failure of the enterprise. But the authorities stul)bornlv stood their 
ground, and would not permit the tea to bo landed. On the 16th of De- 
cember the dispute was settled in a memorable maimer. There was a 2;reat 
town-meeting at which seven thousand people were assembled. Adams 
and Quincy spoke to 
the multitudes. Eve- 
ning came on, and the 
meeting was about to 
adjourn, when a war- 
whoop was heard, and 
about fitly men dis- 
guised as Indians pass- 
ed the door of the Old 
South Church. The 
c r o w d followed to 
Griffin's wharf, where 
the three tea-ships 
were at anchor. Then 
everything became 
quiet. The disguised 
men quickly boarded 
the vessels, broke open 
the three hundred and 
forty chests of tea that 
composed the cargoes, 
and poured the con- 
tents into the sea. 
Such was THE Boston Tea-Pa rty. 

Parliament made haste to find revenge. On the last day of March, 
1774, the Boston Port Bill Mas passed. It was enacted that no 
kind of merchandise should any longer be landed or shipped at the 
■wharves of Boston. The custom-house was removed to Salem, but the 
people of that town refused the benefits which were proffered by the hand 
of tyranny. The inhabitants of ]\Iarblehead tendered the free use of 
tlieir M-arehouses to the merchants of Boston. The assembly stood stoutly 
by the cause of the people. When the news of the passage of the Port 
Bill reached Virginia, the burgesses at once entered a protest on the 




SAMTTEL ADAMS. 



296 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

journals of the house. When Governor Dunmoro ordered tlie members 
to their homes, they met in another place, and passed a recommendation 
for a general congress of the colonies. On the 20th of May the vener- 
ated charter of Massachusetts was annulled by act of Parliament. The 
people were declared rebels ; and the governor was ordered to send 
abroad for trial all persons who should resist the royal officers. The 
colonial assembly made answer by adopting a resolution that the powers 
of language were not sufficient to express the impolicy, injustice, in- 
humanity and cruelty of the acts of Parliament. 

In September the Second Colonial Congress assembled at 
Philadelphia. Eleven colonies were represented. It was unanimously 
agreed to sustain Massachusetts in her conflict with a wicked ministry. 
One address was sent to the king ; another to the English nation ; and 
another to the people of Canada. Before adjournment a resolution was 
adopted recommending the suspension of all commercial intercourse with 
Great Britain until the wrongs of the colonies should be redressed. Par- 
liament immediately retaliated by ordering General Gage, \\ho had been 
recently appointed governor of Massachusetts, to reduce the colonists by 
force. A fleet and an army often thousand soldiers were sent to America 
to aid in the work of subjugation. 

Ill accordance with the governor's orders, Boston Neck was seized 
and fortified. The military stores in the arsenals at Cambridge and 
Charlestown were conveyed to Boston; and the general assembly was 
ordered to disband. Instead of doing so, the members resolved them- 
selves into a provincial congress, and voted to equiji an army of twelve 
thousand men for the defence of the colony. There was no longer any 
hope of a peaceable adjustment. The mighty arm of Great Britain was 
stretched out to smite and crush the sons of the Pilgrims. The colonists 
were few and feeble ; liut they were men of iron wills who had made up 
their minds to die for liberty. It was now the early spring of 1775, and 
the day of battle was at hand. 



THE BEGINNMG. 297 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
THE BEGINNING. 

AS soon as the intentions of General Gage were manifest, the people 
of Boston, concealing their ammunition in cart-loads of rubbish, 
conveyed it to Concord, sixteen miles away. Guge detected the move- 
ment, and on the night of the 18th of April despatched a regiment of 
eight hmidred men to destroy the stores. Another purpose of the expe- 
dition was to capture John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were sup- 
posed to be hidden at Lexington or Concord. The fact was that they 
were not hidden anywhere, but were abroad encouraging the people. 
Tiie plan of the British general was made with great secrecy ; but the 
patriots were on the alert, and discovered the movement. 

About midnight the regiment, under conuuand of Colonel Smith 
and Major Pitcairu, set out for Concord. The people of Boston, Charles- 
town and Cambridge were roused by the ringing of bells and the firing 
of cannons. Two hours before, the vigilant Joseph Warren had de- 
spatched William Dawes and Paul Revere to ride with all speed to Lex- 
ington and to spread the alarm through the country. Against two o'clock 
in the morning the minute-men wei-e under arms ; and a company of a 
hundi-ed and thirty had assembled on the common at Lexington. The 
patriots loaded their guns and stood ready ; but no enemy appeared, and 
it was agreed to separate until the drum-beat should announce the liour 
of danger. At five o'clock the British van, under command of Pitcairn, 
came in sight. The provincials to the number of seventy reassembled ; 
Captain Parker was their leader. Pitcairn rode up and exclaimed: 
"Disperse, ye villains! Throw down your arms, ye rebels, and dis- 
perse !" The minute-men stood still ; Pitcairn discharged his pistol at 
them, and with a loud voice cried, " Fire !" The first volley of the 
Revolution whistled through the air, and sixteen of the patriots, nearly a 
fourth of the whole number, fell dead or wounded. The rest fired a few 
random shots, and then dispersed. 

The British pressed on to Concord; but the inhabitants had re- 
moved the greater part of the stores to a place of safety, and there was 
but little destruction. Two cannons were spiked, some artillerv earriao-es 



298 HISTOHr OF THE UNITED STATES. 

burned, and a small quantity of ammunition tlirown into a mill-pond. 
While the British -were ra'isaeking the town the minute-men began to 
assemble from all quarters. Attempting to enter the village, the jiatriots 
encountered a company of soldiers who were guarding the Xortli Bridge, 
over C'doeord River. Here the Americans, for the first time, tired under 
ordei's of tlieir officers, and here two British soldiers were killed. The 
bridge \vas taken by the provincials, and the enemy began a retreat — first 
into tlie town, and then through the town on the road to Lexington. 
This was the signal for the minute-men to attack the foe from every side. 
For six miles the battle was kept up along the road. Hidden behind 
roeks, trees, fences and barns, the patriots poured a constant fire upon the 
thinned ranks of the retreating enemy. Nothing but good discipline and 
reinforcements which, luider command of Lord Percy, met the fugitives 
just below Lexington, saved the British from total rout and destruction. 
The fight continued to the precincts of Charlestown, the militia becoming 
more and more audacious in their charges. At one time it seemed that 
the whole Bi'itish force would be obliged to surrender. Such a result 
was prevented only by the fear that the fleet would burn the city. The 
American loss in this the first battle of the war was forty-nine killed, 
thirty-four Mounded and five missing ; that of the enemy was two hundred 
and seventy-three — a greater loss than the English army sustained on the 
Plains of Abraham. 

The battle of Lexington fired the country^ Within a few days an 
army of twenty' thousand men had gathered about Boston. A line of 
entrenchments encompassing the city was drawn from Roxbury to Chel- 
sea. To drive Gage and the British into the sea was the common talk 
in that tumultuous camp. And the number constantly~increased* John 
Stark ' came down at the head of the New Hampshire militia. Lsrael 
Putnam, with a leather waistcoat on, ^vas helping some men to build a ^ 
stone wall on his farm when the news from Lexington came flyingV^ 
Hurrying to the nearest town, he found the militia already mastered. 
Bidding the men follow as soon as jjossible, he mounted a hoi-se and rode 
to Cambridge, a distance of a hundred miles, in eighteen hours. Rhode 
Island sent her quota under the brave Nathaniel Greene. Benedict 
Arnold came with the provincials of New Haven. Ethan Allen, of 
Vermont, made war in the other direction. 

This daring and eccentric man was chosen colonel by a company of 
two hundred and seventy patriots who had assembled at Bennington. 
Before tlie battle of Lexington, the legislature of Connecticut had pri- 
vately voted a thousand dollars to encourage an expedition against Tieon- 
deroga. To capture this important fortress, with its vast magazine of 



THE BEGINNING. 299 

stores was tlie oljject of Allen and the audacious mountaineers of whom he 
was the leader. Benedict Arnold left Cambridge, and joined the expe- 
dition as a private. On the evening of the 9th of May, the force, whose 
movements had not been discovered, reached the eastern shore of Lake 
Champlain, opposite Ticonderoga. 

Only a few boats could be procured ; and when daj' broke on the 
following morning, Imt eighty-three men had succeeded in crossing. ^Vith 
this mere handful — for the rest could not be waited for — Allen, with 
Arnold by his side, made a dash, and gained the gateway of the fort. 
The sentinel was driven in, closely followed by the mountaineers, who set 
up such a shout as few garrisons had ever heard. Allen's men hastily 
faced the barracks and stood ready to fire ; he himself rushed to the 
quarters of Delaplace, the commandant, and shouted for the incumbeut to 
get up. The startled official thrust out his head. " Surrender this fort 
instantly," said Allen. " By what authority ?" inquired the astounded 
officer. " In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Con- 
gress !" * said Allen, flourishing his sword. Delaplace had no alternative. 
The garrison, numbering forty-eight. Mere made prisoners and sent to 
Connecticut. A fortress which had cost Great Britain eight million 
pounds sterling was captured in ten minutes by a company of undiscip- 
lined provincials. By this daring exj^loit a hundred and twenty cannon 
and vast quantities of military stores fell into the hands of the Americans. 
Two days afterward Crown Point was also taken without the loss of life. 

On the 25th of jMay, Generals Howe, Clinton and Burgoyne arrived 
at Boston. They brought with them powerful reinforcements from Eng- 
land and Ireland ; the British army was augmented to more than ten thou- 
sand men. Gage, becoming arrogant, issued a proclamation, branding 
those in arms as rebels and traitors, offering pardon to all who would 
submit, but excepting Samuel Adams and John Hancock ; these two were 
to suffer the penalty of treason — provided Gage could inflict it. It was now 
rumored — and the rumor was well founded — that the British were about 
to sally out of Boston with the purpose of burning the neighboring towns 
and devastating the country. The Americans determined to anticipate 
this movement by seizing and fortifying Bunker Hill, a height which 
commanded the peninsula of Charlestown. 

On the night of the 16th of June the brave Colonel Prescott, 
grandfather of Prescott the historian, was sent with a thousand men to 
occupy and entrench the hill. Marching by way of Charlestown Neck, 

* This saying will appear especially amusing when it is remembered that the "Conti- 
nental Congress" referred to did not convene until about six hours after Ticonderoya was 
captured. 



300 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



r>S*«W->- 



^n 



the provincials came about eleven o'clock to the eminence ■which they 
were instructed to fortify. Prescott and his engineer Gridley, not liking 
the position of Bunker Hill, proceeded down the peninsula seven hundred 
yards to another height, afterward called Breed's Hill. The latter was 
within easy cannon range of Boston. On this summit a redoubt eight 
rods square was planned by the engineer ; and there, from midnight tc 
day-dawn, the men worked in silence. The British ships in the harboi 
were so near that the Americans could hear the sentiuels on deck repeat- 
ing the night call, " All is well." The works were not yet completed 
when morning revealed the new-made redoubt to the astonished British 
of Boston. 

" We must carry those works immediately," said General Gage to 
his officers. For he saw that Prescott's cannon now commanded the city. 

As soon as it was light, the ships in 
the harbor began to cannonade the 
American position. The British bat^ 
teries on Copp's Hill also opened a 
heavy fire. But little damage was 
done in this way ; and the Americans 
returned only an occasional shot ; for 
their supply of ammunition was very 
limited. Just after noon a British 
colunni of about three thousand vet- 
erans, commanded by Generals Howe 
and Pigot, landed at Morton's Point. 
The plan was to carry Breed's Hill 
by assault. The Americans num- 
They were worn out witii toil and 
liunger; but there was no quailing in the presence of the enemy, 
the cannonade Prescott climbed out of the defences and walked 
around the pai'apct in full view of the British officers. General; 
and Warren volunteered as privates, and entered the trenches, 
o'clock in the afternoon Ho^\■e ordered his column forward. At the same 
time eveiy gun in the fleet and lotteries was turned upon the American 
position. Charlestown was wantonly set on fire and four himdred build- 
ings burned. Thousands of eager spectators climbed to the house-tops 
in Boston and waited to behold the shock of battle. On came the British 
in a stately and imposing column. 

The Americans reserved their fire until the advancing line Mas 
within a hundred and fifty feet. " Fire !" cried Prescott ; and instantly 
from breastwork and redoubt every gun Avas discharged. The front rank 



« • 




SCENE OF THE BATTLE OF BUNKER 
HILL, 1775. 

bered in all about fifteen hundred. 



During 
leisurely 
Putnam 
At three 



THE BEGINNING. 301 

of the British melted away ; there was a recoil, and fifteen minutes after- 
ward a precipitate retreat. Beyond musket range Howe rallied his men 
and led them to the second charge. Again the American fire was with- 
held until the enemy was but a few rods distant. Then with steady aim 
volley after volley was poured upon the charging column until it was 
broken and a second time driven into flight. 

The British officers were now desperate. The vessels of the fleet 
changed position until the guns were brought to bear upon the iaside of 
the American works. For the third time the assaulting column was put 
in motion. The British soldiers came on with fixed bayonets up the 
hillside strewn with the dead and dying. The Americans had but three 
or four rounds of ammunition remaining. These were expended on the 
advancing enemy. Then there was a lull. The British clambered over 
the ramparts. The provincials clubbed their guns and hurled stones at 
the assailants. It was in vain ; the heroic defenders of liberty were driven 
out of their trenches at the point of the bayonet. Prescott lived through 
the battle, but the brave Warren gave his life for freedom. The loss of 
the British in this terrible engagement was a thousand and fifty-four in 
killed and wounded. The Americans lost a hundred and fifteen killed, 
three hundred and five wounded, and thirty-two prisoners. Prescott and 
Putnam conducted the retreat by way of Charlestown Neck to Prospect 
Hill, where a new line of entrenchments was formed which still com- 
manded the entrance to Boston. 

The battle of Bunker Hill rather inspired than discouraged the 
colonists. It was seen that the British soldiers were not invincible. To 
capture a few more hills would cost General Gage his whole army. The 
enthusiasm of war spread throughout the country. The news was borne 
rapidly to the South, and a spirit of determined opposition was every- 
where aroused. The people began to speak of the United Colonies 
OF America. At Charlotte, North Carolina, the citizens ran together in 
a hasty convention, and startled the country by making a declaration of 
independence. The British ministers had little dreamed of raising such 
a storm. 

On the day of the capture of Ticonderoga the colonial Congress, 
which had adjourned in the previous autumn, reassembled at Philadelphia, 
Washington was there, and John Adams and Samuel Adams, Franklin 
and Patrick Henry ; Jefferson came soon afterward. A last appeal was 
addressed to the king of England ; and the infatuated monarch was plainly 
told that the colonists had chosen war in preference to voluntary slavery. 
Early in the session John Adams made a po^^•erful address, in the course 
of which he sketched the condition and wants of the country and of the 



302 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

army. The necessity of appointing a connnandLT-in-chief and the qual- 
ities requisite in that high officer were dwelt upon ; and then the speaker 
concluded by putting in nomination George Washingtou of Virginia. As 
.soon as his name was mentioned, Washington arose and withdrew from 
the hall. For a moment he was overpowered with a sense of the respon- 
sibility which was about to be put upon him, and to his friend Patrick 
Henry he said with tears in his eyes : " I fear that this day will mark the 
downliiU of my reputation." On the loth of June the nomination was 
unanimously confirmed by Congress; and the man whet liad saved the 
wreck of Braddock's army was called to build a nation. 

George "Washington, descended from the distinguished family 
of the "Wessyngtons in England, was born in Westmoreland county, 
A'irgiuia, on the 11th of February (Old Style), 1732. At the age of 
eleven he was left, by the death of his father, to the sole care of a talented 
and affectionate mother. His education was limited to the common 
branches of learning, extending only to geometry and trigonometry. Sur- 
veying was his favorite study. In his boyhood he was passionately fond 
of athletic sports and military exercises. As he grew to manhood he was 
marked above all his companions for the dignity of his manners, the 
soundness of his judgment and the excellence of his character. At the 
age of sixteen he was sent by his uncle to survey a tract of land on the 
South Potomac, and for three years his life was in the wilderness. On 
reaching his majority he was alreadv more spoken of than any other 
young man in the colony. The important duties which he performed in 
the service of the Ohio Company, the beginning of liis military career 
and his noted campaign with Braddock have already been narrated. After 
the French and Indian War he was a member of the Virginia House of 
Burgesses ; was then chosen a member of the Continental Congress ; and 
was now called by that body to control the destinies of the unorganized 
mass of men composing the American army. With great dignity he 
accepted the appointment, refused all compensation beyond his actual 
expenses, set out with an escort by way of New York, and reached Cam- 
bridge fifteen days after the battle of Bunker Hill. 

W^ashington's duties and responsibilities were overwhelming. Con- 
gress had voted to raise and equip twenty thousand men, but the means 
of doing so were not furnished. The colonies had not yet broken their 
allegiance to the British Crown. For six months Congress stood waiting 
for the king's answer to its address. The country was sound and patri' 
otic; but its methods of action were irregular and uncertain. Washington 
had a force of fourteen thousand five hundred men, but they were undis- 
ciplined and insubordinate. The revenues and supplies of war were 



THE BEGINNING. 303 

almost -wholly wanting. At the time of the battle of Bunker Hill the whole 
army had but twenty -seven half barrels of powder. The work of organ- 
ization was at once begun. Four major-generals, one adjutant and eight 
brigadiers were appointed. The army was arranged in three divisions. 
The right wing, under General Ward, held Hoxbury ; the left, commanded 
by General Charles Lee, rested at Prosj)ect Hill, near Charlestown Neck ; 
the centre, under the immediate direction of the commander-in-chief, lay 
at Cambridge. Boston was regularly invested, and the siege was pressed 
with constantly increasing vigor. 

During the summer and autumn of 1775, the king's authority was 
overthrown in all the colonies. Tlie royal governors either espoused the 
cause of the people, were compelled to resign or were driven oif in insur- 
rections. Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, seized the public powder. 
Patrick Henry led the people, and demanded restitution. The governor 
was overawed, and paid the value of the powder. Fearing further aggres- 
sion, he went on board a man-of-war, proclaimed freedom to the slaves, 
raised a force of loyalists, met the provincials at the village of Great 
Bridge near Norfolk, and was defeated. Obliged to retire from the coun- 
try, he gratified his vindictive disposition by burning Norfolk. 

The American colonies looked to Canada for sympathy and aid. 
It was believed that the Canadians would make common cause aeainst 
Great Britain. In order to encourage such a movement and to secure 
possession of the Canadian government, an expedition was planned against 
the towns on the St. Lawrence. Generals Schuyler and Montgomery 
were placed in command of a division which was to proceed by way of 
Lake Champlain and the river Sorel to St. John and INIontreal. The 
former fort was reached on tlie 10th of September, but the Americans, 
finding the place too strong to be carried by assault, fell back twelve miles 
to Isle-aux-Noix in the Sorel. This place General Schuyler fortified, 
and then returned to Ticonderoga for reinforcements. Sickness detained 
him there, and the wliole command devolved on Montgomery. This 
gallant officer returned to St. John and captured the fortress. Fort 
Chambly, ten miles farther north, was also taken. Montreal was next 
invested, and on the 13th of November obliged to capitulate. 

Leaving garrisons in the conquered towns, Montgomery proceeded 
with his regiment, now reduced to three hundred men, against Quebec. 
This stronghold was already threatened from another quarter. Late in 
the autumn, Colonel Benedict Arnold set out with a thousand men from 
Cambridge, passed up the Kennebec and urged his way through the wil- 
derness to the Chaudiere, intending to descend that stream to Point Levi. 
The march was one of untold hardship and suffering. As winter came 



30-i HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

on the men were hrought to the verge uf starvation. The daring leader 
pressed on in the hope of gathering supplies from some unguarded French 
village. Before his return the famishing soldiers had killed and devoured 
every dog that could be found. Then the brave fellows gnawed the roots 
of trees and ate their moose-skin moccasins until ^Vrnold's I'eturn, when 
the whole force proceeded to Quebec. Morgan, Greene and Meigs, all 
three noted leaders of the Revolution, and Aaron Burr, one day to be- 
come Vice-President of the United States, were in this company of suf- 
fering heroes. 

Arnold and his men, climbing to the Plains of Abraham, as Wolfe 
had done sixteen years previously, ofl'ered battle. But the English gar- 
rison of Quebec remained in their fortifications awaiting an assault which 
the Americans were not strong enough to make. Conscious of his weak- 
ness, Arnold withdrew his men to Point aux Trembles, twenty miles up 
the river, and there awaited the approach of Montgomery. When the 
latter arrived, he assumed command of the whole force, which did not 
exceed nine hundred effective men. Quebec was defended by greatly 
superior numbers, well fortiiied and Marmly quartered. For three weeks, 
with his handful of men, Montgomery besieged the town, and then, rely- 
jjig only on the courageous valor of his men, determined to stake every= 
thing on an assault. 

It was the last day of December, 1775. Before daybreak the little 
army was divided into four colunms. The fii'st division, under Mont- 
gomery, was to pass down the St. Lawrence and attack the Lower Town 
in the neighborhood of the citadel. The second column, led by Arnold, 
was to sweep around the city to the north, attack by way of the St. 
('harles, and join INIontgomery in order to storm the Prescott Gate. The 
Cither two divisions were to remain in the rear of the L^pper Town, making 
(eigned attacks to draw the attention of the garrison. Montgomery's 
column reached the point from which the charge was to begin. A battery 
lay just before, and it was thought that the gunners had not discovered 
the assailants. " Men of New York," said the bi-ave Montgomery, "you 
will not fear to follow where your general leads ! Forward !" There 
were masses of ice and clouds of blinding snow, and bniken ground and 
the cold gray light of morning. As the Americans A\ere rushing forwaixi, 
all of a sudden the battery burst forth ^ith a storm of grape-shot. At 
the first discharge Montgomery and both of his aids fell dead. Tlie 
column was shattered. The men were heartbroken at the death of their 
beloved general. They staggered a moment, then fell back, and returned 
to "Wolfe's Cove, above the city. 

Arnold, ignorant of what had ha])pened, fought his way into the 



THE WORK OF 76. 805 

Lower Tovvn on the north. While leading the i-harge he was severely 
wounddfl and borne to the rear. Captain Morgan, wlio succeeded him, 
Jed his brave band farther and farther along the narrow and dangerous 
streets until he was overwhelmed and compelled to surrender. Arnold 
retired with his broken remnant to a point three miles above the city. 
Reinforcements soon began to arrive; but the smallpox broke out in the 
ramp, and active operations could not be resumed. As soon as the ice dis- 
nppeared from the St. Lawrence, Quebec was strengthened by the arrival 
of fresh troops from England. Governor Carleton now began offensive 
movements ; the Americans fell back from post to post, until, by the mid- 
dle of the following June, Canada was entirely evacuated. 

The worst calamity of the whole campaign was the death of Gen- 
eral Richard Montgomery. He was one of the noblest of the many noble 
men who gave their lives in the cause of American liberty. Born of an 
illustrious Irish family, he became a soldier in his boyhood. He had 
shared the toils and the triumph of Wolfe. To the enthusiasm of a warm 
and affectionate nature he joined the highest order of military talents and 
the virtues of an exalted character. Even in England his death was 
mentioned with sorrow. New York, his adopted State, claimed his body, 
brought his remains to her own metropolis and buried them with tears. 
To after times the Congress of the nation transmitted his fame by erecting 
a noble monument. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE WORK OF '76. 



AT last came the king's answer to the appeal of Congress. It was 
such an answer as George III. and his ministers always made to the 
petitioners for human rights. The colonies were insulted and spurned ; 
their petition was treated with contempt. The king of England did not 
know any such a body as the Continental Congress. The first thing 
necessary was to disband the army and to submit without conditions. 
Then the monarch would settle all questions with each colony separately. 
By this offensive and tyrannical answer the day of independence was 
brought nearer. 

Meanwhile, General Howe had succeeded Gage in command of the 

■2U 



306 



HISTORY OF THE VISITED STATES. 



British troops in Boston. All winter long the city was besieged by 
"Washington. By the middle of February the American army had in- 
creased to fourteen thousand men. The country became restless; and 
Congress urged the commander-in-chief to press the enemy with greater 
"vigor. Washington, knowing the insufficiency of his supplies, and fear= 
ing the consequences of rashness more than the charge of inactivity, nai' 
rowed his lines, strengthened his works, and waited his opportunity. Bj 
the first day of spring, 1776, he felt himself strong enougli to risk an 
assault ; the officers of his staff thought otherwise, and a different plan 
■was adopted. 

On the north, Boston was commanded by the peninsula of Charles- 
town ; on the south, by Dorchester Heights. Since the battle of Bunker 
Hill the former jiosition had been held by the British ; the latter was, as 
yet, unoccupied. Washington now resolved to take advantage of the 

enemy's oversight, to seize the 




SIEGE OP BOSTON, 1776. 



Heights and drive Howe out of 
Boston. A strong entrenching party 
was prepared and put under com- 
mand of General Thomas. For t^o 
days the attention of the British was 
drawn by a constant fire from the 
American batteries. Then, on the 
night of the 4th of March, the de- 
tachment set out under cover of the 
darkness, passed over Dorchester 
Neck, and reached the Heights un- 
perceived. Through the night the 
Americans worked with an energy 
rarely equaled. The British, dis- 
tracted with the cannonade, noticed nothing unusual ; and when morning 
dawned, they could hardly trust their senses. There was a line of for- 
midable entrenchments frowning upon the city ; cannon were mounted, 
and the Americans in force. Howe saw at a glance that he must imme- 
diately carry the threatening redoubts or himself abandon Boston. En- 
raged at being outgeneraled, he ordered Lord Percy to select a coluniQ 
of two thoasand four hundred men and storm the American works before 
nightfall. 

Percy \)\.\i his men in order and proceeded as far as Castle Island, 
intending to make the assault in the afternoon. Wasliington visited the 
trenches and exhorted his men. It was the anniversary of the Boston 
Massacre, and the soldiers were eager to avenge the deaths of their coun- 



1775 76 77 78 79 SO 81 


Louis 

Pl 

Pi 

George 

VIRGIN 


XVI. 

Capture of 3Io 

Quebec. — Deat 

17,000 Hessi 

III. Amer 

lA, 

Norfolk burn 


ntreul. 

ti of Montgom 
ans hired for 
lean array eva 

British 
ed by Lord Du 


Alliance 

ery. 

the American 

cuates Canad 

The British 

fleet arrives 

nmore. 


with France. 1 
^Paul 

war. 

a. 

ministry offer 

in Chesapeake 


Jones' victory. 
War 

terms to the 
Bay. 


between E 

Americans 

Bichmond 

1 


NORTH 


C'AROl.1 


NA. 






f^ Mount 


General G 


SOUTH 


§2 Chart 
CAROEI 


eston. 
NA. 






^^Siege of 

Blil/OH 


Charleston, 
k's Cor-ner. 
Sanders ( V 

PiS;r;, 


CiEORO 


lA. 




r^ nah. 


Sunbury capt 


ured by the Br 
Siege of Savan 


Itish. 
nah. 


P^ Ticond 
EJ^ Crown 

MEW YO 


eroga. 

Point. 

American 

RH. 

New York 
IJJtsn^ Is 

^Pi 


Arrival of La 

^^SagHar 

Fort Ed 
army arrives 

^Pl 
taken by the 
land, 
ite Plains. 
Fort Washingt 


Fayette. 

bor. 

ward abandon 
at New York. 

nington. 

Saratoga, and 
British. 

on. 


ed. 

surrender of 
^Stony 


Arn 
An 

Burgoyne. 
Paint. 


old's treas( 
dr6 execub 


NEW JE 


RSEY. pi 


Trenton. 

^f^Princeton. 


Win 


ter-quarters at 
Morristown. 


I^ Spring 


Mutiny of 
fidd. 
Mutiny of 


NEW HA 
RHODE 


9IPSHIR 


E. PJ// 


ubbardlon. 


fleet in Narra 
ker Bill. 






ISEAND. 




French 

f^Qua 


gansett Bay. 
French 


fleet arrivv 


K^ Lexingt 

MASSAC 
CONNEC 


on. 

her mil. 

HIJSETTS 

British evac 

TICUT. 


uate Boston. 
Tryon's expe 


dition. 


1© 


Penobscot Eiv 


er. 


Washing 
PENNSY 

itIARYEA 


ton appointed 
Declara 
EVAN I. 4. 

Silas Deane 
Ur. Fr 

commissioner 


coramander-in 
tion of Inde 

Philadel 
sent to Fran 
anklin, r^ 

to France, r^ 


-chief. 
pendence. 

phia captured, 
ce. British 

\Brandi/wine. 
iGermantovm. 


evacuate Phil 


adelphia. 


Arties 


N». 










-1 


I>EEAW 


ARE, 













83 



84 



85 



86 



8^ 



88 



Setirement 
Pre 

1 and Holla 
K3 •'Siege 


of Lord North. 

liminary trea 

Supplement 

nd. Delin 

of CUbraltar. 


ty. 

al treaty. 

itive treaty. 




^W^A. D. 1775-1789.^!^ 
// CHART III. \ 


>d by Aruo 
rktown. 


Id. 


Washington 

Virgin 


retires to Mou 

ia cedes the 
to the Gov 


nt Vernon. 

North-western 
ernment. 


territory 


Virginia rat- 
ifies the 
Constitution, 


I. 

3 retreat. 












^ 


c. 
rings. 


The 


British evacu 


ate Charlesto 


n. 




South Caro- 
lina ratifies 
the Consti- 
tution. 




The 


British evacu 


ate Savannah. 






Georgia rati- 
fies .'he Con- 
stitution. 


Dissatis 


The 

faction in the 


British evacu 
army. 


ate New York. 


Decimal 


currency adop 


ted. 

New York ra- 
tifies the 
Constitution. 


^ew Jersey 
snnsylvania 


line, 
line. 








New 
the 


Jersey ratifies 
Constitution. 












New Hamp- 
shire ratifies 
the Constitu'n 


wport. 
















tions. 


Massa 
ter 


chusetts cedes 
ritory to the 


Shay's 

the North-wes 
Government. 


rebellion, 
tern 


Massachusetta 

ratifies the 

Constitution. 


i's depreda 






ratifies the 
Constitution. 


' Confeder 


ation ratifie 


d. 
shington re 


signs his com 


mission. 

Annapo 
yen 


Constitu 
ven 

Constitu 
Constitu 

lis Con- 
tion. 


tional Cou- 
tion. 

tion adopted, 
tion ratified. 




Wa 


Maryland ra 

titles the 
Constitution. 










Dela 
the 


ware ratifies 
Constitution. 



THE WORK OF 76. 307 

tn'men. A battle was momentarily expected ; but while Percy delayed, 
a violent storm arose and rendered the harbor impassable. It continued 
to blow for a whole day, and the attack could not be made. Before the 
following morning the Americans had so strengthened and extended their 
fortifications that all thoughts of an assault were abandoned. Howe 
found himself reduced to the humiliating extremity of giving up the 
capital of New England to the rebels. 

After some days there was an informal agreement between Washing- 
ton and the British general that the latter should be allowed to retire 
from Boston unmolested on condition that the city should not be burned. 
On the 1 7tli of March the arrangement was consummated, and the whole 
British army went on board the fleet and sailed out of the harbor. Nearly 
fifteen hundred loyalists, fearing the vengeance of the patriots, left their 
liomes and fortunes to escajie with Howe. The American advance at 
once entered the city. On the 20th, Washington made a tormal entry at 
the head of the triumphant army. The desolated town, escaping from 
the calamities of a ten months' siege, broke forth in exultation. The 
exiled patriots returned by thousands to their homes. The country was 
wild with delight. From all quartere came votes of thanks and messages 
of encouragement. Congress ordered a gold medal to be struck in honor 
«f Washington, victorious over an enemy " for the first time put to flight." 

The next care of the commander-in-chief was to strengthen the 
defences of Boston. That done, he repaired with the main division of 
the army to New York. It was not known to what part of the coast 
Howe would direct his course ; and Washington feared that his antagonist 
might make a sudden descent in the neighborhood of Long Island. Gen- 
eral Lee pressed forward with the Connecticut militia, and reached New 
York just ill time to bafilc an attempt of Sir Henry Clinton, whose 
fleet arrived off Sandy Hook and threatened the city. Clinton next 
sailed southward, and on the .3d of INIay was joined by Sir Peter 
Parker, in command of another fleet, and Lord Cornwallis with two thou- 
sand five hundred men. The force was deemed sufficient for any enter- 
prise, and it was determined to capture Charleston. 

In the mean time. General Lee had reached the South, and was 
watching the movements of Clinton. The Carolinians rose in arms and 
flocked to Charleston. The city was fortified ; and a fort, M'hich com- 
manded the entrance to the harbor, was built on Sullivan's Island. On 
the 4th of June the British squadron came in sight, and a strong detach- 
ment was landed on Long Island, a short distance east of Fort Sullivan. 
There was a delay until the 28th of the month ; then the British fleet 
began a furious bombardment of the fortress, which was commanded by 



308 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Colonel Moultrie. Tiiree men-of-war, attemjjting to jiass the fort, were 
stranded. Clinton ordered a storniing-party to wade the ehainiel between 
Long- It^land and Sullivan's Island and earry the works by assault; but 
the water was too deep to be foi-ded, and Colonel Thompson, who \\as 
stationed with a company of riflemen on the opposite bank, drove the 
British back in confusion. For eight hours the vessels of the fleet poured 
a tempest of balls upon the fort; but the walls, built of the spongy ])al- 
metto, were little injured. The four hundred militiamen who composed 
the garrison fought like veterans. The republican flag was shot away 
and thrown outside of the parapet ; Sergeant Jasper leaped down from the 
wall, recovered the flag and set it in its place again. The Are from the 
fleet was returned with great spirit ; and as evening drew on the British 
were obliged to retire with a loss of more than two hundrwl men. Lord 
Campbell, the royal governor of South Carolina, was killed, and Admiral 
Parker was severely wounded. The loss of the garrison amounted in 
killed and wounded to thirty-two. As soon as the British could repair 
their shattered fleet they abandoned the siege and set sail for New York. 
In honor of its brave defender the fort on Sullivan's Island was named 
Fort Moultrie. 

During tiie summer Washington's f(irces were augmented to about 
twenty-seven thousand men ; I)ut the terms of enlistment were constantly 
expiring ; sickness prevailed in the camp ; and the ettective force was but 
little more than half as great as the aggregate. On the other hand, Great 
Britain was making the vastest preparations. By a treaty with some of 
the petty German States, seventeen thousand Hessian mercenaries were 
hired to fight against America. George III. was going to quell his re- 
volted provinces by turning loose upon them a brutal foreign soldiery. 
Twenty-five thousand additional English troojis were levied ; an immense 
squadron was fitted out to aid in the reduction of the colonies, and a 
million dollars were voted for the extraordinar)- expenses of the war 
department. 

By these measures the Americans were greatly exasperated. Until 
aow it had been hoped that the difficulty with the mother country could 
be satisfactorily adjusted without breaking allegiance to the British Cro\\n. 
The colonists had constantly claimed to be loyal subjects of Great Britain, 
demanding only the rights and liberties of Englishmen. Now the case 
seemed hopeless ; and the sentiment of disloyalty spread with alarming 
rapidity. The people urged the general assemblies, and the general 
assemblies urged Congress, to a more decided assertion of sovereignty. 
The legislature of Virginia led the way by advising in outspoken terms a 
declaration of independence. Congress responded by reconnnending all 



THE WORK OF 76. 309 

the colonies to adopt such governments as might best conduce to the hap- 
piness and safet}- of the people. This action wa.s taken early in May, and 
in the course of tiie following month nearly all the provinces complied 
with the recommendation. 

Finally, on the 7th of June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia 
offered a resolution in Congress declaring that the United Colonies arc, 
ind of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they arc 
absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown ; and that all political 
connection between them and Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved. 
\ long and exciting debate ensued. The sentiment of independence 
gained ground ; but there was still strong opposition to the movement. 
After some days the final consideration of Lee's resolution was postponed 
until the 1st of July. On the 11th of June a committee, consisting of 
five members, was appointed to prepare a more elaborate and formal dec- 
laration. Mr. Lee had been called home by sickness ; and his colleague, 
Thomas Jefferson, was accordingly made chairman of the committee. The 
other members M'ere John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin 
of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut and Robert R. Livingston 
of New York. The special work of preparing the paper was allotted to 
Jeffei-son and Adams ; the latter deferred to the former, M'hose vigorous 
style of writing specially fitted him for the task. The great document 
was accordingly produced in Jefferson's hand, with a few interlinings by 
Adams and Franklin. 

On the 1st of July, Lee's resolution was taken up, and at the same 
time the committee's report was laid before Congress. On the next day 
the original resolution was adopted. During the 3d, the formal declara- 
tion was debated with great spirit, and it became evident that the work 
of the committee would be accepted. The discussion was resumed on the 
morning of the 4th, and at two o'clock on the afternoon of that memorable 
day the Declaration of Americax Independence was adojjted by 
a unanimous vote. 

All day long the old bellman of the State House had stood in the 
steeple ready to sound the note of freedom to the city and the nation. The 
hours went by ; the gray-haired veteran in the belfry grew discouraged, and 
began to say : " They will never do it — they will never do it." Just then 
the lad who had been stationed below ran out and exclaimed at the top of 
his voice, " Ring ! ring !" And the aged patriot did ring as he had never 
rung before. The multitudes that thronged the streets caught the signal 
and answered with shouts of exultation. Swift couriers bore the glad news 
throughout the land. Everywhere -the declaration was received with 
enthusiastic applause. At Philadelphia the king's arms were torn down 



310 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

from the court-house and burned in the street. At Williamsburg, 
Charleston and Savannah there were bonfires and illuminations. At 
Boston the declaration was read in Faneuil Hall, while the cannon from 
Fort Hill and Dorchester shook the city of the Puritans. At New York 
the populace pulled down the leaden statue of George III. and oast it int(. 
bullets. Washington received the message with joy, and ordered the 
declaration to be read at the head of each brigade. Former suffering and 
future peril were alike forgotten in the general rejoicing. 

The leading jjrinciples of the Declaration of Independence are 
these : That all men are created equal ; that all have a natural right to 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness ; that human governments are insti- 
tuted for the sole jJurjjose of securing the welfare of the people ; that the 
people have a natural right to alter their government whenever it becomes 
destructive of liberty; that the government of George III. had become 
destructive of liberty; that the desjjotism of the king and his ministere 
could be shown by a long list of indisputable proofs — and the proofs are 
given; that time and again the colonies had humbly petitioned for a 
redress of grievances ; that all their petitions had been spurned with 
derision and contempt ; that the king's irrational tyranny over his Amer- 
ican subjects was no longer endurable ; that an appeal to the sword is pref- 
erable to slavery ; and that, therefore, the United Colonies of America are, 
and of right ought to be, free and independent States. To the support 
of this sublime declaration of principles the members of the Continental 
Cv^ngrcss mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred 
honor. 

On leaving Boston, General Howe sailed to Halifax. There he 
remained until the middle of June, when he embarked his forces and 
set sail for Sandy Hook. Early in July he landed a force of nine thou- 
sand men on Staten Island. Thither Clinton came from the unsuccess- 
ful siege of Charleston, and Admiral Howe, brother of General Howe, from 
England. The whole British force, now gathered in the vicinity of New 
York, amounted to fully thirty thousand men. Nearly half of them were 
the hated Hessians whom the king of Great Britain liad hired at thirty- 
six dollars a head. Washington's army Mas inferior in numbers, poorly 
equipped and imperfectly disciplined. 

There was some delay in military ojjerations ; for Lord Howe, the 
admiral, had been instructed to try conciliatory measures with the Amer- 
icans. First, he sent to the American camp an officer with a despatch 
directed to George Washington, Enquire. Of course Washington refused 
to receive a communication M'hich did not recognize his official position. 
In a short time Howe sent another message, addressed to George A\'a.sh- 



THE WORK OF 



311 



ington, etc., etc., etc. ; and the bearer, \\ho was Howe's adjutant-general, 
insisted that and-so-forth might be translated General of the American 
Army. Washington was the last man in the world to be caught with a 
subterfuge ; and the adjutant was sent away. It was already well known 
that Howe's authority extended only to granting pardons, and to unes- 
sential matters about which the Americans were no longer concerned- 
Washington therefore replied that since no offence had been committed 
no pardon was required ; that the colonies were now independent, and 
would defend themselves against all aggression. 

Baffled in his efforts. Lord Howe and his brother determined to 
begin hostilities. On the 22d of August the British, to the number of 
ten thousand, landed on the south-western coast of Long Island, near the 
village of New Utrecht. The Americans, about eight thousand strong, 
commanded by Generals Sullivan and Stirling, were posted in the vicinity 
of Brooklyn. The advance of the British was planned with great skill. 
From Gravesend, where Howe's forces were landed, there were three 
roads to Brooklyn ; the British army was accordingly arranged in three 
divisions. The first colunni, commanded by General Grant, was to ad- 
vance by way of Utrecht and the Narrows. The second division, com- 
posed of the Hessians, under command of General Heister, was to proceed 
to Flatbush, and thence to Bedford and Brooklyn. The third and strong- 
est column, led by Clinton and Gornwallis, was to make a circuit to the 
right as far as Flatland, i-each the 
Jamaica road, and pass by way of 
Bedford io tlie rear of the American 
left wing. All of the movements 
were executed witli perfect ease and 
fatal precision. 

The advance from Gravesend 
began on the morning of the 27th of 
August. Grant's division proceeded 
as lar as the hill now embraced in 
Greenwood Cemetery, where he met 
General Stirling with fifteen hundred 
men ; and the battle at once began. 
But in this part of the field there was 
no decisive result. Heister, in com- 
mand of the British centre, advanced 

beyond Flatbush, and engaged the main body of the Americans, under 
General Sullivan. Here the battle began with a brisk cannonade, in 
which the Hessians gained little or no ground until Sullivan was suddeidy 





■^'-'^r^ 










BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND, 1776. 



312 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

alarmed by the noij;e of battle ou his left and rear, and the battalions of 
Clinton came rushing on the field. 

For General Putnam, who had come over and taken command of 
the entire force of tiie island, had, neglectful of Washiiigton's orders, 
failed to guard the passes on the left of the American army. During the 
]irevious night C'lintt)n had occupied tlie heights above the Jamaica road, 
and now his force came down, unopposed and unperceived, by way of 
Bedford. Sullivan found himself surrounded, cut oif, hemmed in between 
the two divisions of Clinton and Heister. From that moment it wa^ only 
a Cjuestion as to what part of the army could be saved from destruction. 
The men fought desperately, and many broke through the closing lines of 
the British. The rest were scattered, killed or taken prisoners. 

Cornwallis's division pressed on to cut off the retreat of Stirling. 
At first the British Avere repulsed, and Stirling began his retreat toward 
Brooklyn. At Gowanus Creek a number of his men were drowned and 
many others captured; the rest reached the American lines in safety. 
Before the battle was ended Washington arrived on the field, and his 
soul was wrung with anguish at the sight. At first his army seemed 
ruined ; but his resolute and tranquil spirit rose above the disasters of the 
battle. Generals Stirling, Sullivan and ^\'o(Klhull were all prisoners in 
the hands of the enemy. Nearly a thousand patriot soldiers were killed, 
wounded or missing. It seemed an easy thing for Clinton and Howe to 
press on and capture all the rest. Yet in a few hours Washington 
brought together his shattered forces, reorganized his brigades and stood 
ready for an assault in the trenches back of Brooklyn. 

During the 28th, Howe, who was a sluggish, sensual man, ate 
pudding and waited for a fitter day. On the 29th there was a heavy 
fog over island and bay and river, '\^';^shington, clearly perceiving that 
he could not hold his position, and that his army was in great peril, re- 
solved to withdraw to New York. The enterprise was extremely hazard- 
ous, requiring secrecy, courage and despatch. By eight o'clock on that 
memorable night every boat and transport that could be obtained was 
lying at the I3rooklyn ferry. There, under cover of the darkness, the 
embarkation began. Washington jjcrsonally superintended every move 
ment. All night with muffled oars the boatmen rowed silently back and 
forth, bearing the patriots to the northern side of the channel. At day- 
l!2:ht on the following morning, just as the last boatload was leaving the 
wharf, the movement was discovered by the British. They rushed into 
the American entrenclunents, and found nothing there except a few worth- 
less gu!)s. After a severe battle which had cost him nearly four l-undred 
me '., Howe had gained possession of Long Island— and nothing nio-e 



THE WOBK OF 76 313 

General Greene, who was a competent judge, declared that Washington's 
retreat was the most masterly he ever read or heard of. 

The defeat on Long Island was very disastrous to the American 
cause. The army was dispirited. As fast as their terms of enlistment 
expired the troops returned to their homes. Desertions became alarm- 
incly frequent ; and it was only hy constant exertion that WashingtoE 
kept his army from disbanding. To adtl to the peril, the British fleet 
doubled I>ong Island and anchored witliin cannon-shot of New York. 
Washington, knowing himself unable to defisnd the city, called a council 
of war, and it was determined to retire to the Heights of Harlem. On 
the 15th of September tiie British landed in force ou the east side of 
Manhattan Island, about tiiree miles above New York. Thence tiiey 
extended their lines across tiie island to the Hudson, and took possession 
of the city. It was in this juncture of affairs that Howe made overtures 
of peace to Congress. General Sullivan was paroled and sent to Philadel- 
jihia as Howe's agent; but Congress was in no mood to be conciliated. 
Franklin, on behalf of tiiat body, wrote Howe a letter, telling him many 
unpalatable truths about what might lienceforth be expected from the 
American colonies. 

On the next day after the British gained possession of New York, 
there was a skirmish between the advance parties of the two armies north 
of the city. The Americans gained a deeidefl advantage, and the British 
were driven back with a loss of a hundred men. On the American side 
the loss included Colonel Knowlton and Major Leitch — two valuable 
officers — and nearly fifty privates. On the night of the 20th of Septem- 
ber a fire broke out in New York and destroyed nearly five hundred 
buildings. On the 16tii of October, while the Americans were still in 
their entrencliments above the city, Howe embarked liis foi'ces, passed 
into Long Island Sound and landed in ti>e vicinity of Westchester. The 
object was to get upon the American left flank and cut off communica- 
tions with tiie Eastern States. Wasliington, ever on the alert, detected 
the movement, put his army in motion and faced the British east of Har- 
lem River. For some days the two generals manoeuvred, and on the 
28th a battle was brought on at White Plains. Howe began the engage 
ment with a furious cannonade, which was answered with spirit. The 
Americans were driven from one important position, but immediately re- 
entrenciied themselves in anotiier. Night came on ; Howe waited for 
reinforcements, and Washington withdrew to the heights of North Castle, 
Howe remained for a few days at White Plains, and then returned to 
New York. 

Washington, apprehending that the British would now jiroceed 



314 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 




SCENE OF OPERATIONS ABOUT 
NEW YORK, 1771). 



against Philadelphia, crossed to the west bank of the Hudson and took 
post with General Greene at Fort Lee. Four thousand men were left at 

North Castle under command of General Lee. 
Fort Washington, on Manhattan Island, five 
miles north of the cit)-, was defended by three 
thousand men under Colonel JMatraw. Th'^ 
fort was a place of great natural and artificial 
strength. The skill of its construction had 
attracted the attention of Washington and led 
to an acquaintance with the engineer, who 
from tiiat time forth, through the stormy vi- 
cissitudes of nearly a quarter of a century, en- 
joyed the unclouded confidence of his ehief; 
the engineer was Alexaxdkr Hamilton", 
then a stripling of but twenty years of age. 
On the 16th of November the British 
attacked Fort Washington in overwhelming 
force. The garrison made a stubborn defence. 
More than five hundred of the assailants were 
killed or wounded. But valor could not prevail against superior num- 
bers, and Magaw, after losing a hundred and fifty men, was obliged to 
capitulate. The garrison, numbering more than two thousand, were made 
prisoners of war and crowded into the foul jails of New York. Two 
days after the surrender, Cornwallis crossed tiie Hudson with a body of 
six thousand men and marched against Fort Lee. Seeing that a defence 
would onlv end in worse disaster, Washington hastily withdrew across the 
Hackensack. All the baggage and military stores collected in Fort Lee 
fell into the hands of the British, who at once jiressed forward after the 
retreating Americans. AVashington with his army, now reduced to three 
thousand men, crossed the Passaic to Newark ; but Cornwallis and Kiiyp- 
hausen came hard after the fugitives. The patriots retreated to Elizabeth- 
town, thence to New Brunswick, tiience to Princeton, and finally to 
Trenton on the Delaware. The British were all the time in close pursuit, 
and the music of their bands was frequently heard by the rearguard of 
the American army. Nothing but the consummate skill of AA'ashington 
saved the remnant of his forces from destruction. Despair seemed settling 
on the country like a pall. 

On the 8th of December, Washington crossed the Delaware. The 
British essayed to do the same, but the American commander had secreted 
or destroyed everv boat within seventy miles. In order to effect his 
passage, Cornwallis must build a bridge or wait for the freezing of the 



THE WORK OF 76. 315 

river. Tlie latter course was chosen ; and the British array was stationed 
in detachments in various towns and villages east of the Delaware. Tren- 
ton was held by a body of nearly two thousand Hessians under Colonel 
Rahl. It was seen that as soon as tlie river should be frozen the British 
would march unopposed into Philadelphia. Congress accordingly ad- 
journed to Baltimore ; and there, on the 20th of the month, a resolution 
was adopted arming Washington with dictatorial powers to direct all the 
operations of the war. 

Meanwhile, the British fleet under command of Admiral Parker 
had left New York for Narragansett Bay. On the same day that Wash- 
ington crossed the Delaware the islands of Rhode Island, Prudence and 
Conanicut were taken ; and the American squadron under Commander 
Hopkins was blockaded in Blackstone River. During his retreat across 
Kew Jersey, Washington had sent repeated despatches to General Lee, in 
command of the detachment at North Castle, to join the main army as 
soon as possible. Lee was a proud, insul^ordinate man, and virtually 
disobeyed his orders. Marching leisurely into New Jersey, he reached 
Morristown. Here he tarried, and took up his quart ei-s at an inn at 
Basking Ridge. On the 1.3th of December, a squad of British cavalry 
dashed up to the tavern, seized Lee and hurried him off to New York. 
General Sullivan, who had recently been exchanged, now took command 
of Lee's division, and hastened to join Washington. Fifteen hundred 
volunteers from Philadelphia and vicinity were added, making the entire 
American force a little more than si.x thousand. 

The tide of misfortune turned at last. Washington saw in the 
disposition of the British forces an opportunity to strike a blow for his 
disheartened country. The leaders of the enemy were off their guard. 
They believed that the war was ended. Cornwallis obtained leave of 
absence, left New .Jersey under command of Grant, and made preparations 
to return to England. The Hessians on the east side of the river were 
spread out from Trenton to Burlington. Washington conceived the bold 
design of crossing the Dela\\are and striking the detachment at Trenton 
before a concentration of the enemy's forces could be effected. The 
American army was accordingly arranged in three divisions. The fii-st, 
under General Cadwallader, was to cross the river at Bristol and attack 
the British at Burlington. General Ewing with his brigade was to pass 
over a little below Trenton for the purpose of intercepting the retreat. 
Washington himself, with Greene and Sullivan and twenty-four hundred 
men, was to cross nine miles above Trenton, march down the river and 
assault the town. The movement was planned with the utmost secrecy 
— the preparations made \\ith prudence and care. Christmas night was 



316 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



selected a.s the time ; for it was kuown tliat the Hessians -would spend the 
day in drinking; and carousals. 

About the :^Oth of the month, the weather became very cold, and 
by the evening of the 25th the Delaware was filled with floating ice. 
Ewintr and Cadwallader ^\■ere botii baffled in their efforts to cross the 
river. Washington's division succeeded in getting over, but the passagf 
was delayed till throe o'clock in the morning. All hope of reaching 
Trenton before daybreak was at an end ; but ^\"ashington, believing that 
the Hessians would .sleep late after their revels, divided his army into two 
columns and pressed forward. One division, led by Sullivan, j^assed 
down the river to attack the town on the west; 
the other, commanded by AVashington and Greene, 
made a circuit to the Princeton road. The move- 
ment was entirely successful. At eight o'clock 
in the morning the American columns came ru.sh- 
ing into the village from both directions. The 
a.<tonishcd He-ssians sprang from their quarters 
and attempted to form in line. At the first onset 
Colonel Rahl was mortally wounded. Foi-ty or 
fifty others fell before the volleys of the patriots. 
For a few minutes there was confusion, and then 
a cry for quarter. Nearly a tliousand of the 
dreaded Hessians threw down their arms jind 
bco-ored for mercy. At the first alarm about six 
hundred light horse and infantry had escapi^ 
toward Bordentown. All the rest were made pri.-.oners of war. Before 
nightfall AVashington, with his victorious men and the whole body of 
cai)tives, was safe on the other side of the Delaware. 

The battle of Trenton roused the nation from despondency. Con- 
fidence in the commander and hope in the ultimate success of the Amer- 
ican cause were eyerywhere reviyed. The militia from the neighboring 
provinces flocked to the general's standard ; and fourteen hundred sol- 
diers, whose term of enlistment now expired, cheerfully re-entered the 
service. It was at this time that Robert Morris of Philadelphia, the great 
financier of the Revolution, came forward with his princely fortune to 
the support of his distressed country, i^s to Cornwallis, he found it nec- 
essary to postpone his visit to England and hasten back to New Jersey. 
Three days after his victory, Washington again crossed the Del- 
aware and took post at Trenton. Here all the American d-'tachnients in 
the vicinity were ordered to assemble. To General Heath, in command 
of the New England militia stationed at Peekskill, on the Huason, Wash- 




BATTLE OF TRENTON AND 

PRINCETON, 1776-7. 



OPERATIONS OF 77. 317 

ington sent orders to move into New Jersey. The British fell back from 
their outposts on the Delaware and concentrated in great force at Prince- 
ton. Coruwallis took command in person, and resolved to attack and 
overwhelm Washington at Trenton. So closed the year. Ten days 
previously, Howe only waited for the freezing of the Delaware before 
taking up his quarters in Philadelphia. Now it was a question whethei 
he would be able to hold a single town in New Jersey. 



CHAPTER XL. 

OPERATIONS OF 77. 



ON the 1st of January, 1777, Washington's army at Trenton numbered 
about live thousand men. On the next day Cornwallis approached 
from Princeton with greatly superior forces. The British were exasper- 
ated and the Americans resolute. During the afternoon there was severe 
and constant skirmishing in the fields and along the roads to the east and 
north of Trenton. As the columns of the enemy pressed on, Wa.shington 
abandoned the village and took up a stronger position on the south side 
of Assanpink Creek. The British, attempting to force a passage, were 
driven back ; it was already sunset, and Cornwallis deferred the attack 
till the morrow. 

2. Washington's position was critical in the extreme. To attempt to 
recross the Delaware was hazardous. To retreat in any direction was to 
lose all that he had gained by his recent victory. To be beaten in battle 
Avas utter ruin. In the great emergency he called a council of war and 
announced his determination to leave the camp by night, make a circuit 
to the east, pass the British left flank and strike the detachment at Prince- 
ton before his antagonist could discover or impede the movement. Orders 
were immediately issued for the removal of the baggage to Burlington. 
In order to deceive the enemy, the camp-fires along the Assanpink were 
brightly kindled and a guard left to keep them burning through the night. 
Then the army was put in motion by the circuitous route to Princeton. 
Everything was done in silence, and the British sentries walked their 
beats until the morning light showed them a deserted camp; Just then 
the roar of the American cannon, thirteen miles away, gave Cornwallis 
notice of how he had been outgeneraled. 

At sunrise Washington was entering Princeton. At the same mo- 



318 HISTOBV OF THE UNITED STATES. 

meut the British regiments stationed there were marching out by the 
Trenton road to reinforce Cornwallis. The Americans met them in tlie 
edge of the village, and the battle at once began. The patriots, under 
General fiercer, posted themselves behind a hedge, and were doing good 
work with their muskets until the British charged bayonets. Tlien the 
militia gave way in confusion, and Mercer, one of the bravest of the brave, 
received a mortal wound. But the Pennsylvania reserves and regulars 
were at hand, led by the commander-in-chief. The valor of ^^■ashington 
never shone with brighter lustre. He spurred among his flying men, M-ho 
rallied at his call. He rode between the hostile lines and reined his horse 
within thirty yards of the enemy's column. There he stood. From both 
sides there came a crash of nmsketry. Washington's aid drew his hat 
over his eyes that he might not see the chieftain die. The wind tossed 
up the smoke, and there, unhurt, was the sul^lime leader of the American 
armies. The British were already broken and flying, with a loss of tour 
hundred and thirty men in killed, wounded and missing. The loss of 
the Americans was small ; but the gallant Mercer was greatly lamented. 

Washington had intended to press on to Brunswick and destroy the 
enemy's magazines. His men, however, were too much exhausted for the 
march. The legions of Cornwallis were already in hearing, and there 
was no time f(jr delay. ^\'ashington accordingly withdrew to the north, 
and on the 5th of January took a strong position at Alorristown. Corn- 
wallis hastened to Nt'w Brunswick to ])rotect his stores. In a short time 
the whole of New Jersey north of Newark and Elizabethtown was recov- 
ered by the patriots. In all parts of the State the militia rose in arms ; 
straggling parties of the British were cut off, and the outposts of the enemy 
were kept in constant alarm. The Hessians, whose barbarous invasion 
and brutal conduct had almost ruined the country, were the special objects 
of patriot vengeance. Vexed by the perpetual assaults of partisan war- 
fare, Cornwallis gradually contracted his lines, abandoning one post after 
another, until his \\hole force was cooped up in New Brunswick and 
Amboy. The boastful British army that was to have taken Philadelphia 
now thought only of a safe return to New York. 

In the early spring. General Howe despatched a fleet up the Hudson 
M destroy the American stores at Peekskill. Maedougal, the command- 
ant, finding himself too feeble to make a successful defence, blew up the 
magazines and retreated. On the 13th of April Cornwallis marched a 
division out of New Brunswick and surprised General Lincoln, who was 
stationed at Boundbrook on the Raritan ; but the latter made good his 
retreat with a trifling loss. On the 25th of the same month. General 
Tryon with a detachment of two thousand men landed on the north shore 



OPERATIONS OF 77. 319 

of Long Island Sound, and proceeded against Danburv, Connecticut. 
After destroying a large quantity of stores and burning the town the 
British began a retreat to the coast. Immediately they were attacked on 
flank and rear by the exasperated patriots, who, led by the aged Wooster 
and the daring Arnold, made charge after charge on the retreating foe. 
Before regaining their shipping the British lost more than two hundred 
men ; of the patriots about sixty were killed and ^\■ounded. The veteran 
Wooster, now sixty-eight years of age, fell in tliis engagement. 

A similar expedition, undertaken by the Americans, was more suc- 
cessful. Colonel Meigs, of Connecticut, learning that the British were 
collecting stores at Sag Harbor, near the eastern extremity of Long Island, 
gathered two hundred militiamen, and determined to surprise the post. 
On the night of the 22d of May he embarked his men in whale-boats, 
crossed the Sound, and reached Sag Harbor just before daydawn on the 
following morning. The British, numbering a hundred, were over- . 
powered ; only four of them escaped ; five or six were killed, and the re- 
maining ninety were made prisoners. A gun-ship, ten loaded transjjorts 
and a vast amount of stores were destroyed by the victorious patriots, who, 
without the loss of a man, returned to Guilford with their captives. For 
this gallant deed Colonel ^leigs received an elegant sword from Congress. 
Washington remained in his camp at Morristown until the latter 
part of May. Cornwallis was still at New Brunswick, and it was neces- 
sary that the American commander should watch the movements of hio 
antagonist. The patriot forces of the North were now concentrated on the 
Hudson ; and a large camp, under command of Arnold, was laid out on 
the Delaware. Both divisions were within supporting distance of Wash- 
ington, who now broke up his winter-quarters and took an advantageous 
position at Boundbrook, only ten miles from the British camp. Howe 
now crossed over from New York, reinforced Cornwallis and threatened 
an attack upon the American lines ; but Washington stood his ground, 
and Howe pressed forward as far as Somerset Court-House, in the direc- 
tion of the Delaware. The movement was only a feint intended to draw 
Washington from his position ; but he was too wary to be deceived, and 
the British fell back through New Brunswick to Amboy. The American 
lines were now advanced as far as Quibbletown. While in this position, 
Ho\ve, on the night of the 25th of June, turned suddenly about and made 
a furious attack on the American van ; but Washington withdrew his 
forces without serious loss and regained his position at Boundbrook. 
Again the British retired to Amboy, and on the 30th of the month crossed 
over to Staten Island. After more than six months of manceuvring and 
fighting the invading army was fairly driven out of New Jersey. 



320 HISTORY OF THE VlilTED STATES. 

On tlie lOtli of July a brilliant exploit was porfornied in Rhode 
Island. Colonel A^'illianl Barton, of Providence, learning that Major- 
General Prescott of the British army was quartered at a farm-house near 
Newport, apart from his division, determined to capture him. On the 
night of the 10th of July the daring colonel, with forty volunteers, em- 
barked at Providence, dropped down the bay, and reiiched the island 
near Prescott's lodgings. The movement was not discovered. The 
British sentinel was deceived with a plausible statement, and then threat- 
ened with death if he did not remain quiet. The patriots rushed forward, 
burst open Prescott's door, seized him in bed, and hurried him, half clad, 
to the boats. The alarm was raised; a squad of cavalry came charging 
to the water's edge; but the provincials were already paddling out of 
sight with their prisoner. This lucky exploit gave the Americans an 
officer of equal rank to exchange for General Lee. Colonel Bai'ton was 
rewarded with promotion and an elegant sword. 

Meanwhile, Congress had returned to Philadelphia. The American 
government was at this time essentially weak in its structure and ineffi- 
cient in action. Nevertheless, there was much valuable legislation which 
tended to strengthen the army and the nation. But the most auspicious 
sign that gladdened the patriots was the unequivocal symj)athy of the 
French. Fi'oni the beginning of the contest the people of France had 
espoused the American cause. Now, after the lapse of two years, their 
sympathv became more outspoken and enthusiastic. True, the French 
government \\ould do nothing openly which was calculated to provoke a 
war with Great Britain. Outwardly the forms and sentiments of peace 
were preserved between the two nations ; but secretly the French rejoiced 
at British misfortune and applauded the action of the colonies. Soon the 
Americans came to understand that if money was required France would 
lend it ; if supplies were needed, France would furnish them ; if arms 
were to be purchased, France had arms to sell. During the year 1777 
the French partisans of America managed to supply the colonies with 
more than twenty thousand muskets and a thousand barrels of powder. 

At last the republicans of France, displeased with the double-deal- 
ing of their government, began to embark for America. Foremost of alP 
came the gallant young Marquis of La Fayette.* Though the king 
withheld permission, though the British minister protested, though family 
and home and kindred beckoned the youthful nobleman to return, he left 
all to fight the battle of freedom in another land. Fitting a vessel at his 
own expense, he eluded the officers, and with the brave De Kalb and a 
small company of followers reached Georgetown, South Carolina, in 

* La Fayette's name was Gilbert MoUer. 



OPERATIONS OF 77. 32l 

April of 1777. He at once entered the patriot army as a volunteer, and 
in the following July was commissioned as a major-general. Not yet 
twenty years of age, he clung to Washington as son to father, and through 
life their friendship was unclouded. 

One of the most important events of the whole war was the cam- 
paign of Lieutenant-General Burgoyuc. This distinguished British ofSccp 
arrived at Quebec in March of 1777. Superseding Sir Guy Carleton in 
command of the English forces in Canada, he spent the months of Ajwil 
and May in organizing a powerful army for the invasion of New York. 
By the beginning of June he had thoroughly equipped a force of ten thou- 
sand men, of whom about seven thousand were British and Hessian vet- 
erans; the rest were Canadians and Indians. The plan of the campaign 
embraced a descent upon Albany by way of Lake Champlain, Lake 
George and the Upper Hudson. From Albany it was Burgoyno'a pur- 
pose to descend the river to New York and unite his forces with the main 
division of the British army. By this means New England was to be cut 
off from the Middle and Southern colonies and the whole country jjlaced 
at the mercy of Howe. That any successful resistance could be offered to 
the progress of the invading army was little imagined. 

On the 1st of June Burgoyne reached St. John's, at the foot of 
Lake Champlain, and on the 16th proceeded to Crown Point. This 
place, which was undefended, was occupied by a British garrison ; and 
the main army swept on to Ticondcroga, which was at that time held by 
three thousand men under General St. Clair. The British soon gained 
possession of Mount Defiance, and planted a battery seven hundred feet 
al)ovo the American works. Mount Hope was also seized and retreat by 
Mav of Lake George cut off. St. Clair, seeing that resistance would be 
hopeless, abandoned the fort on the night of the 5th of July, and escaped 
\\\i\\ the garrison by way of Mount Independence and Wood Creek. The 
British pressed after the fugitives, and overtook them at Hubbardton, a 
village in Vermont, seventeen miles from Ticonderoga. A sharp engage- 
ment ensued, in which the Americans fought so obstinately as to check the 
pursuit ; and then continued their retreat to Fort Edward. On the fol- 
lowing day the British reached Whitehall and captured a large quantity 
of baggage, stores and provisions. 

At this time the American army of the North was commanded by 
General Schuyler, a man whose patriotism was greater than his abilities. 
His headquarters were at Fort Edward, where he remained until after the 
arrival of St. Clair. The garrison now numbered between four and five 
thousand men ; but this force was deemed inadequate to hold the place 
against Burgoyne's army. Schuyler therefore evacuated the post and 

21 



322 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

retreated down the Hudson as far as the islands at the moutli of the 
Mohawk. Burgoyne came on by way of Fort j\-nu, wliich the Americana 
had demolished, and thence through the woods over obstructed roads to 
Fort Edward, where he arrived on the 30th of July. Fearing that his 
supplies would be exhausted before he could reach Albany, the British 
general now made a halt, and despatched Colonel Baum with five hundred 
men to seize the provincial stores at Bennington, Vermont. Colonel 
John Stark rallied the Xcw Hampshire militia, and on the 15th of 
August met the British a short distance from the village. On the follow- 
ing morning there was a furious battle, In which Baum's force was fairly 
annihilated. A battalion of Hessians, led by Breymann, arrived on the 
field, only to be utterly routed by the Americans, who were reinforced by 
the gallant colonel Warner. The British lost a hundred and forty in 
killed and wounded, and nearly seven hundi'cd prisoners. The whole 
country was thrilled by the victory, and the patriots began to rally from 
all quarters. 

A few days after the battle of Bennington, Burgoyne received in- 
telligence of a still greater reverse. At the beginning of the invasion a 
large force of Canadians, Tories and Indians, commanded by General St. 
Leger, had been sent by way of Oswego against Fort Schuyler, at the 
head of navigation on the Mohawk. This important post was held by a 
small garrison under Colonel Gansevoort. On the 3d of August St. Legei 
invested the fort, and it seemed that a successful defence was impossible ; 
but the brave General Herkimer rallied the militia of the surrounding 
countiy and advanced to the relief of the garrison. ^Mien ncaring the 
fort, the patriots fell into an Indian ambuscade, and a terrible hand-to- 
hand conflict ensued in the woods. Herkimer was defeated with a loss 
of a hundred antl sixty men in killed, wounded and prisoners. The loss 
of the savages was almost as great. Hardly had the conflict ended when 
the garrison made a sally, carried evei-ything l)ef()re them, and then fell 
back with trophies and prisoners. Already the impetuous and fearless 
Arnold had volunteered to lead a detachment from the Hudson for the 
relief of the fort. At his approach the savages plundered the British 
camp and fled. St. Leger, dismayed at the treachery of the barbarians^ 
raised the siege and retreated. Fort Schuyler was saved and strengthened. 
Such was the news that was borne to Burgoyne at Fort Edward. 

The British general had now lost a month in procuring supplies 
from Canada. Should he retreat? Ruin and disgrace were in that 
direction. Should he go forward? More than nine thousand patriot 
soldiers were in that direction. For General Lincoln had arrived with 
the militia of New England ; Washington had sent several detachment* 



OPERATIONS OF 77. 



323 




SCENE OF BUKGOYNE'S 
INVASION, 1777. 



from the regular army; IMorgan had come with his famoiLS riflemen. 
Aleauwhile, General Gates had superseded Sehuyler in command of the 
northern army. On the 8th of September the American headquarters 
were advanced to Stillwater. 7^t Bemis's Heights, 
a sliort distance north of this jjlace, a strong 
lamp was laid out and fortified under direction 
jf the noted Polish engineer Thaddcus Kos- 
oiusko. On the 14th of the month, Burgoyne 
crossed the Hudson and took post at Saratoga. 
Until the 18th he advanced his camp a mile each 
day, when the two armies were face to face and 
but two miles apart. On the afternoon of the 
19th tiic advance parties of the British attacked 
the American wings, and a general battle ensued, 
continuing until nightfall. The conflict, though 
severe, was indecisive; the Americans retired 
within their lines, and the British slept under 
arms on the field. To the patriots, \\hose num- 
bers were constantly increasing, the result of the battle was equivalent 
to a victory. 

The condition of Burgoyne grew more and more critical. On all 
^ides the lines of Gates were closing around him. His supplies failed ; 
iiis soldiers were put on partial rations ; his Canadian and Indian allies 
deserted his standard. But the British general was courageous and 
resolute ; he strengthened his defences and flattered his men with the 
hope that General Clinton, who now commanded the British army in 
New York, would make a diversion in their favor. The latter did 
ascend the river as far as Forts Clinton and Montgomery. Both these 
forts, after an obstinate defence, were carried by assault. Colonel Vaughan 
was sent on with a thousand men as far as the town of Kingston, which 
was burned ; besides the destruction of stores and private property, nothing 
further was accomplished, and the condition of Burgoyne became des- 
perate. On the 7th of October he hazarded another battle, in which he 
lost his bravest officers and nearly seven hundred privates. The conflict 
was terrible, lasting from two o'clock in the afternoon till twilight. At 
last Morgan's riflemen singled out the brave General Eraser, who com- 
manded the British right, and killed him. His disheartened men turned 
and fled from the field. On the American side, Arnold, who had re- 
signed his commission, rode at full speed to his old command, and, ivithout 
authority, became the inspiring genius of the battle. He charged like a 
madman, drove the enemy before him, eluded Gates's aid who was sent to 



324 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

call him back, bui-st into the British camp and was severely wounded. 
The Americans were completely victorious. 

On the night after the battle Burgoyne led his shattered army to 
a stronger position. The Americans immediately occupied the abandoned 
cam}), and then pressed after the fugitives ; for the British were already 
retreating. On the 9th of October Burgoyne reached Saratoga and 
attempted to escape to Fort Edward. But CJates and Lincoln now com- 
manded the river, and the proud Briton was hopelessly hemmed in. He 
held out to the last extremity, and finally, when there were only three 
days between his soldiers and starvation, was driven to surrender. On 
the 17th of October terms of capitulation were agreed on, and the whole 
army, numbering five thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, became 
prisoners of war. Among the captives were six members of the British 
Parliament. A splendid train of brass artillery consisting of forty -two 
^jicces, together M^ith nearly five thousand muskets, and an immense 
quantity of ammunition and stores, was the further fruit of the victory. 
The valor of the patriots had fairly eclipsed the warlike renown of Great 
Britain. 

As soon as Burgoyne's invasion was at an end, a large ])ortion of 
the victorious army of the North was despatched to the aid of M'ashing- 
ton. For, in the mean time, a great campaign had been in progress in 
ihe South ; and the patriots were sorely pressed. At the beginning of 
July, Howe had abandoned New Jersey. On the 23d of the same month 
he sailed with eighteen thousand men to attack Philadelphia by way of 
die Delaware. Washington, suspecting the object of the expedition, broke 
up his camp and marched rapidly southward. Off the capes of Virginia 
Howe learned that the Americans had obstructed the Delaware, so as to 
prevent the passage of his fleet. He therefore determined to enter the 
Chesapeake, anchor at the head of the bay and make the attack by land. 
As soon as Washington obtained information of the enemy's plans, he 
advanced his headcpiarters from Philadelphia to Wilmington, and there 
the American army, numbering between eleven and twelve thousand 
men, was concentrated. The forces of Howe were vastly superior in 
aumbers and equipments, but Washington hoped by selecting his ground 
and acting on the defensive to beat back the invaders and save the 
capital. 

On the 25th of August, the British landed at Elk River, in IMary- 
!and, and nine days afterward began their march toward Philadelphia. 
After a council of war and some changes in the arrangement of his forces, 
Washington selected the left bank of the Brandywine as his line of de- 
fence. The left wing of the American army was stationed at Chad's Ford 



OPERATIOXS OF 77. 325 

to dispute tlie passage, while the right wing, under General Sullivan, was 
extended for three miles up the river. On the 11th of September the 
British reached the opposite bank and began battle. What seemed to be 
their principal attack was made by the Hessians under Knyphausen at 
the ford ; and here Wayne's division held the enemy in check. But the 
tnset of Knyphausen was only a feint to keep the Americans engaged 
until a stronger column of the British, led by Cornwallis and Howe, could 
march up the south bank of the Brandywine and cross at a point above 
the American right. In this way Sullivan, who was not on the alert, 
allowed himself to be outflanked. Washington was misled by false in- 
formation ; the right wing, though the men under La Fayette and Stir- 
ling fought with great courage, was crushed in by CornwallLs ; and the 
day was hopelessly lost. 

During the night the defeated patriots retreated to Westchest*r. 
Greene brought up the rear in good order ; through his efforts and those 
of the commander-in-chief the army was saved from destruction. Tlic 
loss of the Americans in killed, wounded and missing amounted to fully 
a thousand men ; that of the British to five hundred and eighty-four. The 
gallant La Fayette was severely wounded ; Count Pulaski, a bravo Pole 
who had espoused the patriot cause, so distinguished himself in this en- 
gagement that Congress honored him with the rank of brigadier and gave 
him command of the cavalry. On the day after the battle, Washington 
continued his retreat to Philadelphia, and then took post at Germantown, 
a few miles from the city. Undismayed by his reverse, he resolved to 
risk another engagement. Accordingly, on the 15th of the month, he 
recrossed the Schuylkill and marched toward the British camp. Twenty 
miles below Philadelphia he met Howe at Warren's Taveru. For a 
wliile the two armies manceuvred, the enemy gaining the better position ; 
then a spirited skirmish ensued, and a great battle was innuiuent. But 
just as the conflict was beginning a violent tempest of wind and rain 
swept over the field. The combatants were deluged, their cartridges 
soaked, and figliting made impossible. On the next day Howe marched 
<lown the Schuylkill ; Washington recrossed the river and confronted his 
antagonist. Howe turned suddenly about and hurried up stream along 
the right bank in the direction of Reading. Washington, fearing for his 
stores, pressed forward up the left bank to Pottstown. But the move- 
ment of the British westward was only feigned ; again Howe wheeled, 
marched rapidly to the ford above Norristown, crossed the river and 
liastened to Philadelphia. On the 26th of Se]>tember the city was entered 
without o])position, and the main division of the British army encamped 
at Germantown. 



326 HISTOEY OF THE UJSITED STATES. 

At the approach of Howe, Congress adjourned to Lancaster. On 
the 27th of ^ejitemljer the members met at that place, and again adjourned 
to York, wliere they assembled on the 30tii and continued to hold their 
sessions until the British evacuated Philadelphia in the following summer. 
Washington now made his camp on Skippack Creek, about twenty miles 
from the city. As soon as Howe found himself safe in the " rebel cap- 
ital," as he was pleased to call it, he despatched a large division of his 
army to capture forts Mifflin and Mercer on the Delaware. Gcrmantown 
■was thus considerably weakened, and Washington resolved to attempt a 
a surprise. The same plan of attack which had been so successful at 
Trenton was again adopted. On the night of the 3d of October the 
American army,* arranged in several divisions, marched silently toward 
Germantown. The roads were rough, and the different cdlunnis reached 
the British outposts at irregular intervals. The morning was foggy, and 
the movements of both armies Mere unsteady and confused. There was 
much severe fighting, and at one time it seemed that the British would be 
overwhelmed ; but they gained possession of a large stone house and 
held it. A foolish attempt to dislodge them gave the enemy time to 
rally. Some strong columns of Americans were kept out of the battle 
by the inefficiency of their commanders ; the tide turned against the 
patriots, and the day was lost. Of the Americans a hundred and fiftv- 
two were killed, five hundred and twenty-one wounded, and about four 
hundred missing. Howe reported the British loss at five hundred and 
thirt\-five. The retreat of the Americans was covered by Greene and 
Pulaski. 

On the 22d of October Fort Mercer, on the New Jersey side of 
the Delaware, seven miles below Philadelphia, was assaulted by twelve 
hundred Hessians under Count Donop. The garrison, though number- 
ing but four hundred, made a brave and successful resistance. The 
assault was like that at Biuiker Hill. Count Donop received a mortal 
wound, and nearly four hundred of his men fell before the American 
entrenchments. At the same time the British fleet, assisted by a land- 
force from Philadelphia, attacked Fort Mifflin on Mud Island, in the 
Delaware. Here also the assailants met with an obstinate resistance. 
The assault became a siege, which lasted till the 15th of November. The 
patriots held out against superior numbers until eveiy gun was dismounted 
and every ]>alisade demolished. Then at midnight the ruiued fortress 
was set on fire, and the garrison escaped to Fort Mercer. To make a 
second attack on this place Howe despatched two thousand men under 
Cornwallis. Washington sent General Gi'eene to succor the fortress ; but 
Coruwallis was strongly reinforced, and the American general would not 



OPERATIONS OF 77. 



327 



hazard a battle. On the 20th of November Fort Mercer was abandoned 
to the British ; and thus General Howe obtained undisputed control of 
the Delaware. 

After the battle of Germantown Washington took up liLs head- 
quarters at Whitemarsh, twelve miles from Philadelphia. Winter was 
ajiproaching, and the j^atriots began to suffer for food and clothing. 
Howe, knowing the distressed condition of the Americans, determined to 
surprise their camp. On the evening of the 2d of December he held a 
council of war, and it was decided to march against Washington on the 
following night. But Lvdia Darrah, at whose house the council was 
held, overheard the plan of the enemies of her country. On the follow- 
ing morning she obtained a passport from Lord Howe, left the city oa 
pretence of going to mill, rode rapidly to the American lines, and sent 
information of the impending attack to Washington. When, on the 
morning of the 4th, the British approached Whitemarsh they found the 
cannon mounted and the patriots standing in order of battle. The British 
general manceuvred for four days, and then marched back to Philadel- 
phia. During the remainder of the winter the city was occupied by 
nearly twenty thousand English and Hessian soldiers. There they 
re\-eled and rioted. Everything that the magazines of Great Britain 
could furnish was lavished upon the army of invaders who lay warmly 
housed in the city of Penn. In the patriot camp there was a different 
scene. 

On the 11th of December Washington left his position at White- 
marsh and \\'ent into winter-quarters at Valley Forge on the right bank 
of the Schuylkill. The marcli thither occupied four days. Thousands 
of the soldiers were without shoes, and 
the frozen ground was marked with bloody 
footprints. The sagacity of Washington 
had pointed to a strong position for his 
encampment. To the security of the 
river and hills the additional security of 
redoubts and entrenchments was added. 
Log cabins were built for the soldiers, and 
everything was done that could be done 
to secure the comfort of the suffering pat- 
riots. But it was a long and dreary winter ; moaning and anguish were 
heard in the camp, and the echo fell heavy on the soul of the commander. 
These were the darkest days of Washington's life. Congress in a mea- 
sure abandoned him, the people withheld their sympathies. The brilliant 
success of the army of the North was unjustly compared with the reverses 




ENCAMPMENT AT VALLEY FORGE, 

1777-8. 



S28 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of the army of the South. Many men liigh in military and civil station 
left the great leader unsupported in the hour of his grief; even Samuel 
Adams, impatient under calamity, withdrew his confidence. There was 
a miserable conspiracy headed by Gates, Conway and JMifilin. Washing- 
ton was to be superseded, and Gates or Lee was to be made commander- 
in-chief. But the alienation was only for a moment ; the allegiance of 
the army remained unshaken, and the nation's confidence in the troubled 
chieftain became stronger than ever. Still, at the close of 1777, the 
patriot cause was obscured with clouds and misfortune. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

FRANCE TO THE RESCUE. 



FOUR months before the declaration of independence, Silas Deane of 
Connecticut was appointed commissioner to France. His business 
at the French court was to act as the political and commercial agent of 
the United Colonies. His first service was to make a secret arrangement 
with Beaumarchais, a rich French merchant, by which the latter was to 
supply the Americans with the materials necessary for carrying on the war. 
The king of France and his prime minister, Vergennes, winked at this 
])roceeding ; but the agents of Great Britain were jealous and susjiicious, 
and it was not until the autumn of 1777 that a ship laden witii two hun- 
dred thousand dollars' worth of arms, ammunition and specie could be 
'^ent to America. In that ship came Baron Steuben, a veteran soldier and 
lisciplinaHan from the army of Frederic the Great. Arriving at Ports- 
.nouth, the baron tarried a short time in New England, and then repaired 
\o York, where Congress was in session. From that body he received a 
>ommission, and at once joined AVashington at Valley Forge. His acces- 
.ion to the American army was an event of great importance. He re- 
ceived the appointment of inspector-general ; and from the day in which 
ie entered upon the discharge of his duties there was a marked improve- 
*^ent in the condition and discipline of the soldiers. The American reg- 
ulars were never again beaten when confronted by the British in equal 
numbers. 

In November of 1776 Ai'thur Lee and Benjamin Franklin were 
appointed by Congress to negotiate an ojien treaty of friendshiji and com- 



FRANCE TO THE RESCUE. 329 

merce witli the French king. In the following month they reached Paris 
and began their conferences with Vergennes. For a long time King 
Louis and his minister were M-ary of the proposed alliance. They cor- 
dially hated Great Britain, they rejoiced that the British empire was about 
to be dismembered, they gave secret encxiuragoment to the colonies to hold 

)ut in tiieir rebellion, they loaned money and shipped arms to America ; 

iut an open alliance was equivalent to a war with England, and that the 
Frencli court dreaded. 

Now it was that the genius of Dr. Franklin shone with a peculiar 
lustre. At the gay court of Louis XVI. he stood as the rcprosentati\e 
of his countiy. No nation ever had an ambassador of greater wisdom 
and sagacity. His reputation for learning had preceded him ; the dignity 
of liis demeanor and the simplicity of his manners added to his fame. 
Whether as philosopher or diplomatist, no man in that great city of fashion 
was the equal of the venerable American patriot. His wit and genial 
humor made him admired ; his talents and courtesy commanded respect ; 
his patience and perseverance gave him final success. During the whole 
of 1777 he remained at Paris and Versailles, availing himself of every 
opportunity to promote the interests of his country. At last came the 
news of Burgoyne's surrender. A powerful British army had been sub- 
dued by the colonists without aid from abroad. The success of the Amer- 
ican arms and the prospect of commercial advantage decided the wavering 
policy of the king, and in the beginning of winter he made an announce- 
ment of his determination to accept an alliance with the colonies. On the 
6th of February, 1778, a treaty was concluded ; France acknowledged the 
independence of the United States and entered into relations of reciprocal 
friendship with the new nation. It was fur+her stipulated that in case 
England should declare war against France, the Americans and the 
French should make common cause, and that neither should subscribe to 
a treaty of peace without the concurrence of the other. In America the 
news of the new alliance was received with great rejoicing ; in England, 
with vindictive anger. 

Benjamin Franklin, the author of the first treaty between the 
United States and a foreign nation, was born in Boston on the 17th of 
January, 1706. His father was a manufacturer of soap and candles. 
To this humble vocation the young Benjamin was devoted by his parents; 
but the walls of a candle-shop were too narrow for his aspiring genius. 
At the age of twelve he was apprenticed to his brother to learn the art of 
|)rinting ; but the brother beat him, and he ran off to New York. There 
he found no employment. In 1723 he rejiaired to Philadeljihia, entered 
a printing-office, and rose to distinction. He visited Ent^land ; returned; 



330 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



founded the first circulating library in America; became a man of science; 
edited Poor Richard's Almanac; originated the American Philosophical 

; discovered the 



identity of electricity 
and lightning; made 
himself known in both 
hemispheres ; espoused 
the cause of the pat- 
riots ; and devoted the 
unimpaired energies of 
his old age to per- 
fecting the American 
Union. The name of 
Franklin is one of the 
brightest in the history 
of anv nation. 

In May of 1778 
Congress ratified the 
treaty with France. A 
month before this time 
a French fleet, com- 
manded by Count 
d'Estaing, had been 
despatched to Amer- 
ica. The object was 
to sail into the Del- 
aware and l)l<)ckade the British squadron at Philadelphia. Both France 
and Great Britain understood full well that war was inevitable, and each, 
immediately j)rc2Dared for the conflict. George. III. now became willing 
to treat M'ith his American subjects. Lord North, the prime minister, 
brought forward two bills in which everything that the colonists had 
claimed was conceded. The bills were passed by Parliament, and the 
king assented. Commissioners were sent to America ; but Congress in- 
formed them that nothing but an express acknowledgment of the inde- 
pandence of the United States Mould now be accepted. Then the com- 
missioners tried bribery and intrigue ; and Congress would hold no further 
conference with them. 

From September of 1777 until the following June the British army 
remained at Philadelijhia. The fleet of Admiral Howe lay in the Del- 
aware. In the spring of 1778, General Howe was superseded by Sir 
Henry Clinton. 'NA'hen the rumor came that the fleet of D'Estaing was 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



FRANCE TO THE RESCUE. 331 

approaching, the English admiral withdrew from the Delaware and sailed 
for New York. Finally, on the 18th of June, the British army evacuated 
Philadelphia and retreated across New Jersey. Washington occupied tlie 
city, crossed the river, and followed the retreating foe. At Moumoutli, 
eighteen miles south-east of New Brunswick, the British were overtaken. 
On the morning of the 28tli General Lee Mas ordered to attack the enemy. 
The first onset was made by the American cavalry under La Fayette j 
but they were driven back by Cornwallis and Clinton. Lee, who had 
opposed the battle, and was not anxious for victory, ordered his line to 
fall back to a stronger position ; but the troops mistook the order and 
began a retreat, the British charging after them. Washington met the 
fugitives, rallied them, administered a severe rebuke to Lee, and ordered 
him to tlie rear. During the rest of the engagement the haughty officer, 
half treacherous in his principles and practices, remained at a distance, 
making, satirical remarks about the battle. The fight continued till night- 
fall; the advantage was with the Americans; and Washington, in hope 
of a complete victory, anxiously waited for the morning. During the 
night, however, Clinton succeeded in withdrawing his forces from the 
field, and thus escaped the peril of defeat. 

The loss of the Americans in the battle of Monmouth was sixty- 
seven killed and a hundred and sixty wounded. The British left nearly 
three hundred dead on the field. On the day after the battle Wasliington 
received an insulting letter from Lee demanding an apology for the lan- 
guage which the commander-in-chief had used. Wa.shington replied that 
the language was warranted by the circumstances. This Lee answered 
in a still more offensive manner, and was thereupon arrested, tried by a 
court-martial, and dismissed from his command for twelve months. The 
brave, rash man never re-entered the service, and did not live to see his 
countiy's independence. 

The British land and naval forces were now concentrated at New 
York. Wasiiington followed, crossed the Hudson, and took up his head- 
quarters at Wliite Plains. On the 11th of July Count d'Estaing's fleet 
arrived off Sandy Hook and attempted to attack the Britisli squadron in 
the bay ; but the bar at the entrance prevented the passage of the French 
vessels. D'Estaing next sailed for Newport, Rhode Island, where the 
British, commanded by General Pigot, were in strong force. At the same 
time a division of the American army, led by General Sullivan, proceeded 
to Providence to co-operate with the French fleet in the attack on New- 
port. Greene and La Fayette came with reinforcements, and the whole 
army took post at Tiverton. On tlie 9th of August Sullivan succeeded 
ui crossing the eastern passage of the baj', and secured a favorable position 



332 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

on the island. A joint attack by land and sea was jjlanned for the fol- 
lowing day. On that morning, however, the fleet of Lord Howe, who 
had left New York in pursuit of the French, eame in sight ; and D'Estaing, 
instead of beginning the bombardment of Newport, sailed out to give 
battle to Howe. Just as the two squadrons were about to begin an en- 
gagement a violent storm arose by which the fleets were parted and 
greatly damaged. D'Estaing repaired to Boston, and Howe returned tc 
New York. 

Sullivan laid siege to Newport; but when the French squadron 
sailed away, he found it necessary to retreat. The British jjursued the 
Americans, and overtook them in the northern part of the island ; a battle 
ensued, and Pigot was repulsed with a loss of two hundred and sixty 
men. On the following night Sullivan succeeded in reaching the main- 
land ; and it was well that he did so ; for on the next day General Clin- 
ton arrived at Newport with a division of four thousand regulars. The 
Americans saved themselves by hastily retiring from the neighborhood. 
Clinton, having sent out a detachment under Colonel Grey to burn the 
American shipping in Buzzard's Bay, destroy the stores in New Bedford 
and ravage Martha's Vineyard, returned to New York. 

The command of the British naval forces in America was now 
transferred from Lord Howe to Admiral Byron. Sir Henr}' Clinton, 
unable to accomplish anything in honorable warfare, descended to maraud- 
ing and robbery. Early in October a band of incendiaries, led by Fer- 
guson, burned the American ships at Little Egg Harbor. For several 
miles inland the country was devastated, houses pillaged, barns burned, 
patriots murdered. To the preceding July belongs the sad story of the 
Wyoming massacre. Major John Butler, a tory of Niagara, raised a 
company of sixteen hundred loyalists, Canadians and Indians, and marched 
into the vallev of Wyoming, county of Luzerne, Pennsylvania. The 
settlement Mas defenceless. The fathers and brothers were away in the 
patriot armv. There were some feeble forts on the Susquehanna in the 
neighborhood of ^Vilkesl)arre, but they were useless without defenders. 
On the approach of the tories and savages the few militia remaining in 
the valley, together with the old men and boys, i-allied t!>r the defence of 
their homes. A battle was fought, and the poor patriots were utterly 
routed. The fugitives fled to the {)rincipal fort, which was cro\\ded 
with women and children. On came the murderous horde, and demanded 
a surrender. Honorable terms were promised by Butler, and the garrison 
capitulated. On the 5th of July the gates were opened, and the bar- 
barians entered. Immediately they began to plunder, then to burn, and 
then to use the hatchet and the scalping-knife. There is no authentic 



FRANCE TO THE RESCUE. 333 

record of the horrible atrocities that followed. The savages divided 
into parties, scattered through the valley, plundered, robbed, burned, and 
drove almost every surviving family into the swamps or mountains. In 
this way George III. would subdue the American colonies. 

November witnessed a similar massacre at the village of Cherry 
Valley, Otsego county, New York. This time the invaders were led by 
Joseph Brant, the Mohawk sachem, and Walter Butler, a son of Major 
John Butler. The people of Cherry Valley were driven from their 
homes ; every house in the village was burned ; women and children were 
tomahawked and scalped ; and forty miserable sufferers dragged into cap- 
tivity. To avenge these outrages an expedition was sent against the 
savages on the Uf)per Susquehanna ; and they in turn were made to feel 
the terrors of war. In the preceding December the famous Major Clarke 
had received from Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, a commis- 
sion to proceed against the Indians west of the Alleghanies. The expe- 
dition left Pittsburg in the spring of 1778 ; descended to the mouth of the 
Ohio ; and on the 4th of the following July captured Kaskaskia. Other 
important posts were taken ; and in August Vincennes was forced to 
cajjitulate. 

On the 3d of November Count d'Estaing's fleet sailed from Boston 
for the West Indies. In December Admiral Byron, in command of the 
British squadron, left New York to try the fortunes of war on the ocean. 
A few days previously. Colonel Campbell, with a force of two thousand 
men, was sent by General Clinton for the conquest of Georgia. On the 
29th of December the expedition reached Savannah. The place was de- 
fended bv General Robert Howe with a reo-iment of five hundred and 
fifty regulars, and three hundred militia. Notwithstanding the superior 
numbers of the British, Howe determined to risk a battle ; but the result 
was disastrous. The Americans -were routed and driven out of the city. 
Escaping up the river, the defeated patriots crossed into South Carolina 
and found refuge at Charleston. Such was the only real conquest made 
by the British during the year 1778. It was now nearly four years since 
the battle of Concord, and Great Britain had lost vastly more than she 
had gained in her struggle with the colonies. The city of New York was 
held by Clinton ; Newport was garrisoned by a division under Pigot ; the 
feeble capital of Georgia was conquered; all the rest remained to the 
patriots. 



334 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

MOVEMENTS OF '79. 

THE winter of 1778-79 was passed by the American army at Middle- 
brook, New Jersey. With tlie opening of spring there was much 
disci )uragement among the soldiers ; for they were neither paid nor fed. 
Only the personal influence of Washington and the patriotism of the 
camjJ prevented a mutiny. Clinton opened the campaign with a number 
of predatory incursions into the surrounding country. In February, 
Tryon, the old tory governor of New York, a man so savage in his nature 
that the Indians called him the Big Wolf, marched from Kingsbridge 
M'ith a body of fifteen hundred regulai's and tories to destroy the salt^ 
■works at Horse Neck, Connecticut. General Putnam, who chanced to 
be in that neighborhood, rallied the militia and made a brave defence. 
The Americans planted some cannon on the brow of a hill and fought 
with much sjiirit until they were outflanked by the British and obliged to 
fly. It was hero that General Putnam, pursued and about to be over- 
taken by a party of dragoons, turned out of the road, spurred his horse 
down a precipice and escaped.* Tryon destroyed the salt-\vorks, ]»lan- 
dered and burned the village of West Greenwich and returned to Kings- 
bridge. 

In the latter part of May Clinton himself sailed with an armament 
up the Hudson to Stony Point. This strong position, commanding the 
river, liad been chosen by Washington as the site of a fort ; the Amer- 
icans were engaged upon the unfinished works when Clinton's squadron 
came in sight. The feeble garrison, unable to resist the overwhelming 
numbers of the enemy, escaped from the fortifications. On the 1st of 
June the British entered, mounted cannon and began to bombard Ver- 
planck's Point, on the other side of the river. Here the patriots made a 
brave resistance; but the British landed a strong force, surrounded the 
fort and compelled a surrender. Both Verplanck's and Stony Point were 
strongly fortified and garrisoned by the enemy. About the same time 
Virginia suffered from an incui-sion of the tories. A vast amount of 
public and private property was destroyed ; and several towns, including 
Norfolk and Portsmouth, were laid in ashes. 

* After all, Putnam's exploit was not so marvelous. In 1825 some of General La 
f'ayette's dragoons rode down the same hill for sporl. 



MOVEMENTS OF 79. 335 

lu July the ferocious Trj-on again distinguished himself. With a 
force of twenty-six hundred Hessians and tories lie sailed to New Haven, 
captured the city and would have burned it but for fear of the gathering 
militia. Having set East Haven on fire, the destroyers sailed dov,-n the 
Sound to the beautiful town of Fairfield, which wa.s given to the flames. 
At Norwalk, while the village was burning and the terrified people flying 
from their homes, Tryon, on a neighboring hill, sat in a rocking-chair 
and laughed heartily at the scene. It was not long until these dastardly 
outrages were made to appear more dastardly by contrast with a heroic 
ex]iloit of the patriots. 

Early in July General Wayne received orders to attempt the recap- 
ture of Stony Point. On the 15th of the month he mustered a force of 
light infantry at a convenient point on the Hudson and marched against 
the seemingly impregnable fortress. The movement was not discovered 
by the enemy. At eight o'clock in the evening Wayne halted a mile 
from the fort and gave orders for the assault. A negro who had learned 
the countersign went with the advance ; the British pickets were deceived, 
caught and gagged. The Americans advanced in two columns, the first 
led by Wayne, and the second by the gallant Frenchman, Colonel De 
Fleury. Everything was done in silence. Muskets were unloaded and 
bayonets fixed ; not a gun was to be fired. The two divisions, attacking 
from opposite sides, were to meet in the middle of the fort. The assault 
was made a little after midnight. Within pistol-shot of the sentinels on 
the height, the Americans were discovered. There was the cry. To arms! 
the rattle of drums, and then the roar of musketry and caimon. The 
patriots never wavered. The ramparts were scaled ; and the British, find- 
ing themselves between two closing lines of bayonets, cried out for quar- 
ter. Sixty-three of the enemy fell in the struggle ; the remaining five 
hundred and forty-three were made prisoners. Of the Americans only 
fifteen were killed and eighty-three wounded. In the days that followed 
the assault Wayne secured the ordnance and stores, valued at more than 
a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, then destroyed the fort and marched 
away. On the 20th a division of the British army, arriving at Stony 
Point, found nothing but a desolated hill. In honor of his brave deed 
General Wayne received a gold medal from Congress. 

Three days after the taking of Stony Point, ]\Iajor Lee with a com- 
pany of militia attacked the British garrison at Jersey City. Again the 
assault was successful, the enemy losing nearly two hundred men. On 
the 25th of the same month a fleet of thirty-seven vessels, which had 
been equipped by Massachusetts, was sent against a British post recently 
established at the mouth of the Penobscot. The enterprise, however, was 



336 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

managed with little skill and less success. On the 13th of August, while 
the American ships were still besieging the post, they were suddenly 
attacked and 'destroyed by a British fleet. In the summer of this year 
an army of four thousand six hundred men, commanded by Generals Sul- 
livan and James Clinton, was sent against the Indians of the Upper Sus- 
quehanna. The atrocities of Wyoming were now fully avenged, and the 
savages driven to destruction. At Elmira, on the Tioga River, the In- 
dians and tories had fortified themselves ; but on the 29th of August they 
were forced from their stronghold and utterly routed. The whole coun- 
try between the Susquehanna and the Genesee was wasted by the patriots, 
^^■ho, in the course of the campaign, destroyed forty Indian villages. In 
the latter part of October Sir Henry Clinton, alarmed by the rumored 
approach of the French fleet, withdrew the British forces from Rhode 
Island. The retirement from Newport was made with so much haste that 
the heavy guns and large quantities of stores were left behind. Such 
were the leading military movements in the North. 

Meanwhile, the war had continued in Georgia and South Carolina ; 
and the patriots had met with many reverses. At the beginning of the 
year Fort Sunbury, on St. Catherine's Sound, was the only post held by 
the Americans south of the Savannah. On the 9th of January this fort 
was captmx'd by a body of British troops from Florida, led by General 
Pi'cvost. This officer then joined his forces with those of Colonel Camp- 
bell, who had just effected the conquest of Savannah, and assumed com- 
mand of the British army in the South. A force of two thousand reg- 
ular and loyalists, commanded by Campbell, was at once despatched 
against Augusta ; for there the republican legislature had assembled after 
the fall of Savannah. On the 29tli of January the British reached their 
destination, and Augusta fell a prey to the invaders. For a ^vhile the 
whole of Georgia was prostrated before the king's soldiery. 

In the mean time, the tories of Western Carolina had risen in arms 
and were advancing to join the forces of Campbell at Augusta. While 
marching thither they were attacked and defeated in a canebrake by 
the patriots under Captain Anderson. On the 14th of February the tories 
were again overtaken in the country west of Broad River. Colonel 
Pickens, at the head of the Carolina militia, fell upon them with such 
fury that the whole force was annihilated. Colonel Boyd, the tory leader, 
and seventy of his men were killed. Seventy-five others were captured, 
tried for treason and condenmed to death ; but only five of the ringleaders 
were hanged. On receiving intelligence of what had happened, Campbell 
hastily evacuated Augusta and retreated toward Savannah. The western 
half of Georgia was recovered more quickly than it had been lost. 



MOVEMENTS OF 79. 337 

While the Britisii were retreating down the river, General Lincoln, 
\\ho now commanded the American forces in the kSoutii, sent General 
Ashe with a division of two thousand men to intercept the enemy. Un 
the 25th of February the Americans crossed the Savannah and pureued 
Campbell as far as Brier Creek, forty-five miles below Augusta. The 
bridge over this stream had been destroyed by the retreating British, and 
the patriots came to a halt. While they were dela^'ed General Prevost 
marched with a strong force from Savannah, crossed Brier Creek above 
the American position, and completely surrounded General Ashe's com- 
mand. A battle was fought on the 3d of March ; the ^Vmericans, after 
losing more tiian three hundred men in killed, wounded and prisoners, 
were totally routed and driven into the swamps and river. TJie rem- 
nants of Ashe's army rejoined General Lincoln at Perrysl)urg. The shock 
of this defeat again jirostratcd Georgia, and a royal government was 
estal)]ished over the State. 

But the Carolinians rallied with great vigor. Within a month Gen- 
eral Ijincoln was again in the field with a force of more than five thou- 
sand men. Still hoping to reconquer Georgia, he advanced up the left 
bank of tiic river in the direction of Augusta ; but at the same time Gen- 
eral Prevost crossed the Savannah and marched against Charleston. On 
tiie 12th of May he summoned the city to surrender, but General Moultrie, 
who commaniled the patriots, was in no humor to do it. Prevost made 
])reparations for a siege ; but learning that General Lincoln had turned 
back to attack him, he made a hasty retreat. The Americans pursued, 
overtook the enemy at Stono Fcrr\', ten miles west of Charleston, made 
an imprudent attack and were repulsed with considerable loss. Before 
retiring from the State, Prevost succeeded in establishing a post at Beau- 
fort, and then fell back to Savannah. From June until September 
military operations were almost wholly suspended. 

And now came Count d'Estaing with his fleet from the West Indies 
to Carolina to co-operate with General Lincoln in the reduction of 
Savannah. Prevost was alarmed, and concentrated his forces tor the 
defence of the city. The storm- winds of the equinox were approaching, 
and D'Estaing stipulated with the Americans that his fleet should not be 
long detained on that coast devoid of harbors. On the 12th of September 
the French, numliering six thousand, effected a landing, and advanced to 
the siege. Eleven days elapsed before the slow-moving General Lincoln 
arrived with his forces. Meanwhile, on the 16th of the month, D'Estaing 
had demanded a surrender ; but Prevost, who asked a day for consulta- 
tion and used it in strengthening his works and in receiving reinforce- 
ments from Beaufort, answered with a message of defiance. After Lin- 



338 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

coin's arrival the siege was prosecuted with great vigor. The city was 
bombarded welliiigh to destruction ; tlie people were driven into the 
cellars, and dared not venture forth on peril of their lives. But the 
British defences remained unshaken. At last the impatient D'Estaing^ 
notified Lincoln that the city must be stormed or the siege abandoned. 
The former course was preferred. On the Sth of ( )ctober a conference 
was held, and it was determined to make the assault at daylight on the 
following morning. 

Accordingly, an hour before sunrise the allies advanced against the 
redoubts of the British. The attack was made irregularly, l)ut with great 
vehemence; the defence, with desperate determination. The struggle 
around the ramparts was brief but furious. At one time it seemed that 
the works would l)e carried. The French and the patriots mounted the 
parapet and jtlanted the flags of Carolina and France. But the emljlems 
of victory, with those who bore them, were hurled into the dust. Here 
the brave Sergeant Jasper, the hero of Fort IMoultrie, fell to rise no more. 
After an hour of the most gallant fighting, the allied columns were shat- 
tered and tlriven back with fearful losses. D'Estaing was twice wounded. 
The noble Pulaski was struck with a grajie-shot and borne dying from the 
field. The repulse was complete, humiliating, disastrous. D'Estaing re- 
tired with his men on board the fleet and sailed for France. Lincoln 
with the remnants of his army retreated to Charleston. 

While the siege of Savannah was progressing, the American arms 
were made famous on the ocean. On the 23d of September Paul Jones, 
cruisins off the coast of Scotland with a flotilla of French and American 
vessels, fell in witli a fleet of British merchantmen, convoyed by two 
men-of-war. The battle that ensued was bloody beyond precedent in 
naval warfare. For an liour and a half the Sei-apis, a British frigate of 
forty-four guns, engaged the Poor Bichard* witiiin musket-shot. Then 
the vessels, both in a sinking condition, were run alongside and lashed 
together. The marines fought with the fury of madmen until the Serapis 
struck her colors. Jones hastily transferred his men to the conqueretl 
shij), and the Poor Richard went down. The remaining British vessel 
was also attacked and captured. So desperate was the engagement that of 
the three hundred and seventy-five men on board the fleet of Jones three 
hundred were either killed or wounded. 

So closed the year 1779. The colonies were not yet free. The 
French alliance, which had promised so much, had Ijrought but little 
benefit. The credit of Congress had sunk almost to notliing ; the national 
treasury was bankrupt. The patriots of the army were poorly fed, and 

■* So naniefl in lionor of Dr. Franklin's almanac. 



REVERSES AND TREASON. 339 

paid only with unkept promises. The disposition of Great Britain was 
best illustrated in the measures adopted by Parliament for the campaigns 
of the ensuing year. The levies made by the House of Commons were 
eighty-five thousand marines and thirty-five thousand additional troops ; 
while the extraordinary expenses of the War Department were set at 
twenty million pounds sterling. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

REVERSES AND TREASON. 



DURING the year 1 780 military operations at the North were, for the 
most part, suspended. Twice did the British under Kuyphausen 
advance from New York into New Jersey ; and twice they were driven 
back. Early in July Admiral De Ternay arrived at Newport with a 
French squadron and six thousand land-troops under Count Rocham- 
beau. The Americans were greatly elated at the coming of their allies ; 
but Washington's army was in so destitute a condition that active co- 
operation was impracticable. In September the commander-in-chief held 
a conference with Rochambeau, and the plans of future campaigns were in 
part determined. 

In the Soutli there was much activity, and the patriots suffered many 
reverses. South Carolina was completely overrun with the invading 
armies. On the 11th of February Admiral Arbuthnot, in command of a 
British squadron, anchored before Charleston. Sir Henry Clinton and a 
division of five thousand men from the army in New York were on board 
the fleet. The plan of the campaign was to subjugate the whole South, 
beginning with Charleston. The city was defended by fourteen hundred 
men, under General Lincoln, who began his preparations by fortifying 
the neck of the peninsula. The British effected a landing a few miles 
below the harbor, advanced up the right bank of Ashley River, and 
crossed to the north of the city. A month was spent by Clinton in mak- 
ing cautious approaches toward the American entrenchments. On the 
7th of April General Lincoln was reinforced by seven hundred veterans 
from Virginia. Two days afterward Admiral Arbuthnot, favored by the 
wind and tide, succeeded in passing Fort Moultrie with his fleet, and 
anchored within cannon-shot of the citv. A summons to surrender was 




340 HISTORY OF THE UyiTED STATES. 

answered by Lincoln with the assurance that Charleston would be 
defended to the last extremity. 

A siege was at once begun, and j)rosecuted with great vigor. Desir- 
ing to keep a way open for retreat, Lincoln sent a body of three hundred 

men under General Huger to scour the country 

north of Cooper River and rally the militia. 
Apprised of this movement, Tarleton with a 
legion of British cavalry stole upon Huger's 
forces at Monk's Corner, thirty miles north of 
Charleston, routed and dispei-sed the whole com- 
pany. The city was now fairly hemmed in, and 
the thunder of two hundred camion shook the 
beleaguered ramparts. From the beginning the 
SIEGE OF CHARLESTON, 1780. dcfcHce luid hccu hopcIcss, aud every day the 
condition of the town became more desperate. 
Finally the fortifications were beaten down, and Clinton made ready to 
storm the American works ; not till then did Lincoln and the civil 
authorities, dreading the havoc of an assault, agree to capitulate. On the 
12tli of May the principal city of the South was given up to the British 
and the men who had so bravely defended it became j>risoners of war. 

A few days belbre the surrender Tarleton, who was ranging the 
country to the north and west, surprised and dispersed a body of militia 
who had gathered on the Sautee. After the capture of the city, three 
expeditions were directed into different sections of the State. The Amer- 
ican ]iost at Ninety-Six, a hundred and fifty miles north-west of the cap- 
ital, was seized. A second detachment of the British invaded the country 
bordering on the Savannah. Cornwallis with the ])rincipal division 
marched to the north-east, crossed the Santee and caj)tured Georgetown, 
near the mouth of the Great Pedee. Here he learned that Colonel Buford, 
with a body of fi\'e hundred patriots, who liad left North Carolina for 
the relief of Charleston, was now retreating through the district north of 
Camden. Tarleton with seven hundred cavalry pressed rapidly across 
the country', overtook the Americans on the 'Waxhaw, a tributary of the 
Catawba, surprised them, and, M'hile negotiations for a surrender were 
pending, charged upon and massacred nearly the whole company. For 
this atrocious deed Cornwallis commended Tarleton to the sjiecial favor 
of the British Parliament. 

By such means the authority of Great Britain was re-established 
over South Carolina. As soon as the Avork was done, Clinton and 
Arbuthnot, Avith about half of the British army, sailed for New York. 
Cornwallis was left with the remainder to hold the conquered territory; 



REVERSES AND TREASON. 341 

Tor it was the territory, and not the people, who were conquered. In tins 
condition of affairs, two daring patriot leaders arose to rescue the repub- 
lican cause. These men, ever afterward famoas, were Thomas Sumter 
and Francis Marion. Under their leadership the militia in the central 
and western portions of the State, especially on the upper tributaries of 
Broad River, were rallied, armed and mounted. An audacious partis;;: 
warfare was begun, and exposed detachments of the British army wei. 
swept off as thougii an enemy had fallen on them from the skies. At 
Rocky Mount, on the Wateree, Colonel Sumter burst upon a party of 
dragoons, who barely saved themselves. On the 6th of August he attacked 
a large detachment of regulars and tories at Hanging Rock, in Lancaster 
county, defeated them and retreated. It was in this battle that young 
Andrew Jackson began his career as a soldier. 

The exploits of Sumter were even surpassed by those of Marion. 
His company consisted at lirst of twenty men and boys, white and black, 
half clad and poorly armed. But the number constantly increased, and 
the "Ragged Regiment" soon became a terror to the enemy. Every 
British outjiost was in jieril. There was no telling when or Avhere the 
sword of the tearless leader would fall. From the swamjis at midnight he 
antl Ills men would suddenly dart upon the encampments of the enemy, 
sweeping everything before them. When the British expected Marion 
in front, he would assail the rearguard with the utmost fury, and then dis- 
appear; when they thought him hovering on their flank, he was a hun- 
dred miles away. During the whole summer and autumn of 1780 he 
swept around Cornwallis's positions, cutting his lines of communication 
and making incessant onsets with an audacity as destructive as it was pro- 
voking. In the midst of tiiis wild and lawless warfare, Marion preserved 
an unblemished reputation. Fifteen years afterward, when he lay on liis 
deathbed, he declared that he had never intentionally wronged any man ; 
and it was trntlifiilly written on his monument that he lived without fear 
and died without reproach. 

After the fall of Charleston, General Gates was appointed to com- 
mand in the South. With a strong force of regulars and such militia as 
would join his standard, he advanced across North Carolina, and at the 
l)eginning of August reached the southern boundary of the State. Lord 
Rawdon, who commanded the British posts in the northern parts of South 
Carolina, called in his detachments and concentrated his forces at Camden. 
Hither came also Cornwallis with reinforcements from Charleston and 
Georgetown. The Americans moved forward and took post at Clermont, 
tliirteen miles north-west from Camden. By a singular coincidence Corn- 
wallis and Gates each formed the design of surprising his antagonist in 



342 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



the night. Accordingly, on the evening of tlie 15th of August, Gates set 
out for Camden, and at the same time Coruwallis moved toward Cler- 
mont. About daydawn the two armies met midway on Sander's Creek. 

Both generals were surprised, 
but both made immediate 
preparations for battle. As 
soon as it was light the con- 
flict began. Steadiness and 
courage in all parts of the 
field would have given the 
victory to the Americans, but 
at the first onset the Virginia 




SCENE OF OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTH, 1780, SI. 



and Carolina militia broke 
line, threw their arms away 
and fled. For a while the 
Continentals of Maryland 
and Delaware sustained the 
battle with great bravery, but 
at length they were outflank- 
ed by Webster's cavalry and 
driven back. The American 
officers made heroic efforts to 
save the day, but all in vain ; the retreat became a rout. Baron de Kalb, 
the friend of La Fayette and fellow-sufferer with Washington at Valley 
Forge, remained on the field trying to rally his men until he was wounded 
eleven times and fell in the agony of death. More than a thousand of the 
Americans were killed, wounded or captured. The shattered remnants 
continued the retreat to Charlotte, North Carolina, eighty miles distant. 
The military reputation of Gates, which never had any solid foundation, 
was blown away like chaff", and he Mas superseded by General Greene, 
who, after Washington, was the best officer of the Revolution. 

Comwallis was again master of South Carolina. A few days after 
the battle of Sander's Creek, Sumter's corps was overtaken by Tarleton 
at Fishing Creek, thirty miles north-west from Camden, and completely 
routed. Only Marion and his troopers remained to harass the victorious 
enemy. The triumph of the British was marked by cruelty and oppres- 
sion. Comwallis visited the patriots with merciless severity, and the 
ruined State crouched at the feet of the conqueror. On the 8th of Sep- 
tember the British advanced from Camden into North Carolina, and on 
the 25th reached Charlotte, the Americans having retreated to Salisbury. 
While this movement was in progress, Colonel Ferguson, with a force of 



REVERSES AND TREASON 343 

«leven hundred regulars and tories, was sent into the country west of the 
Catawba to overawe the ])atriots and encourage the loyalists to take up 
arms. On the 7th of October, while Ferguson and his men were en- 
camped on the top of King's Mountain, they were suddenly attacked by 
a thousand riflemen led by Colonel Campbell. The camp was surrounded; 
1 desperate battle of an hour and a half ensued ; Ferguson was slain, and 
Jiree hundred of his men were killed or wounded ; the remaining eight 
hundred threw down their arms and begged for quarter. On the morn- 
ing after the battle ten of the leading tory prisoners were condenned by a 
court-martial and hanged. During the remaining two months of the year 
there were no ;iiilitary movements of import;ince. Georgia and South 
Carolina were in the power of the British, and North Carolina was invaded. 

Meanwhile, the financial credit of the nation was sinking to the 
lowest ebb. Congress, having no silver and gold with which to meet the 
accumulating expenses of the war, had resorted to paper money. At first 
the expedient was successful, and the continental bills were received at 
par ; but as one issue followed another, the value of the notes rapidly 
diminished, until, by the middle of 1780, they were not worth two cents 
to the dollar. To aggravate the evil, the emissaries of Great Britain 
€xecuted counterfeits of the congressional money and sowed the spurious 
bills broadcast over the land. Business was jJaralyzed for the want of a 
currency, and the distress became extreme ; but Robert Morris and a few 
ether wealthy patriots came forward with their private fortunes and saved 
the suffering colonies from nun. The mothers of America also lent a 
helping hand ; and the patriot camp was gladdened with many a contribu- 
tion of food and clothing which woman's sacrificing care had provided. 

In the midst of the general gloom the country was shocked by the 
rumor that Benedict Arnold had turned traitor. And the news, though 
hardly credible, was true. The brave, rash man, who, on behalf of the 
patriot cause, had suffered untold hardships and shed his blood on more 
fields than one, had blotted the record of his heroism with a deed of 
treason. After the battle of BemLs's Height, in the fall of 1777, Arnold 
was promoted by Congress to ihe rank of major-general. Being disabled 
by his wound, he was made commandant of Philadelphia after tiie evae- 
aation of the city by the British. Here he married the daut,hter of a 
(loyalist, and living in the old mansion of William Penn entered upon a 
career of luxury and extravagance which soon overwhelmed him with 
debt and bankruptcy. In order to keep up his magnificence, he began a 
sj'stem of frauds on the commissary department of the army. His bear- 
ing toward the citizens was that of a military despot; the people groaned 
under ais tyranny, and charges were preferred against him by Congress. 



344 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The cause was finally heard by a court-martial in December of 1779. 
Arnold was convicteil on two of the charges, and, by the order of the 
court, was mildly reprimanded by Washington. 

Professing unbounded patriotism, and seeming to firget the dis- 
grace which his misconduct had brought upon him, Arnold applied for 
and obtained command of the important fortress of West Point on tiit 
Hudson. On the List day of July, 1780, he reached the camp ana 
assumed control of the most valuable arsenal and depot of stores in Amer- 
ica. He had already formed the treasonable design of surrendering the 
fort into tue hands of the enemy. For months he had kept up a secret 
correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton, and now the scheme ripened, on 
Arnold's part, into an open proposition to betray his country for gold. 
It was agreed that on a certain day the British fleet should ascend the 
Hudson, that the garrison should be divided and scattered, and the iort- 
ress given up without a struggle. 

On the 21st of September Sir Henry Clinton sent Major John 
Andre up the river to hold a personal conference with Arnold and make 

the final arran<j:ements for the surrender. 
Andre, through whom the correspondence 
between Arnold and Clinton had been car- 
ried on, was a former acquaintance of Ar- 
nold's wife, and now held the post of adju- 
tant-general in the British army. He went 
to the conference, not as a spy, but wearing 
full uniform ; and it was agreed that the 
meeting should be held outside of the Ameri- 
can lines. About midnight of the 21st he 
went ashore from the Vulhire, a slooj) of 
war, and met Arnold in a thicket on the 




■SCENE OF ARNOLD S 
TREASON, 1780. 



west bank of the river, two miles below 
Havcrstraw. Daydawn approached, and 
the conspirators were obliged to hide 
themselves. In doing so they entered the 
American lines; Arnold gave the password, and Andre, disguising him- 
self, assumed the character of a spy. 

During the next day the traitor and his victim remained concealed 
at the house of a tory named Smith. Here the awful business ^^■as com- 
pleted. Arnold was to surrender West Point, its garrisons and stores, 
and to receive for his treachery ten thousand jiounds and a commission as- 
briiradier in the British army. All preliminaries being settled, paper.» 
containing a full description of West Po'ut, its d>^fen'>c.s ard t!:e best 



THE END. 345 

metliod of attack were made out and given to Andre, who secreted the 
dangerous documents in his stockings. During that day an American 
battery drove the Vulture from its moorings in the river; and at night- 
fall Andre was obliged to cross to the other side and proceed ))y land 
toward New York. He passed the American outposts in safety; but at 
Tarrytown, twenty-five miles from the city, he was suddenly confronted 
by three militiamen* wlio stripped him, found his papers, and delivered 
him to Colonel Jameson at North Castle. Through that officer's amazing 
stupidity Arnold was at once notified that John Anderson — that being 
the assumed name of Andre — had been taken with his passport and some 
papers " of a very dangerous tendency." Arnold, on hearing the news, 
fled to the river and escaped on board the Vulture. AndrS was tried by 
a court-martial at Tapjian, and condemned to death. On the 2d of Oc- 
tober he was led to the gallows, and, under the stern code of war, was 
hanged. Though dying the death of a felon, he met liis doom like a 
brave man, and after times have commiserated his sad fate. Arnold 
received his pay. 

In the dark days of December there came a ray of light fi-om 
Europe. For several yeare Holland had secretly favored the Americans ; 
now she began negotiations for a commercial ti'eaty similar to that already 
existing between France and the United States. Great Britain discovered 
the purposes of the Dutfh government ; there were angry remonstrances, 
and then, on the 20th of December, an open declaration of war. Thus 
the Netherlands were added to the enemies of England ; it seemed that 
George III. and his ministers would have enough to do without further 
efforts to enforce a stamp-act or levy a tax on tea. 



CHAPTER XLIV 

THE END. 



niOR the Americans the year 1781 opened gloomily. The condition 
J- of the army was desperate — no food, no pay, no clothing. Even the 
influence of Washington was not sufficient to cpiiet the growing discontent 
of the soldiery. On the first day of January the whole Pennsylvania 
line, numbering nearly two thousand, mutinied, left their camp at Morris- 

* John Paulding, David Williams and Isaac van Wart. Congress afterward rewarded 
them with silver medals and pensions for life. 



346 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

town and marplied toward Pliiladelphia. General Wayne, after trj'ing in 
vain to prevent the insurrection, went witli his men, still hoping to con- 
trol them. At Princeton they were met by two emissaries from Sir Henry 
Clinton, and were teni[)ted with offers of money, clothing and release from 
military service if tliey woultl desert the American standard. The mu- 
tinous patriots made answer by seizing the British agents and delivering 
them to General Wayne to be hanged as spies. For this deed the com- 
missioners of Congress, who now arrived, offered the insurgents a large 
reward, but the reward was indignantly refused. Washington, knowing 
how shamefully the army had been neglected by Congress, was not un- 
willing that the mutiny should take its own course. The congressional 
agents were theref()re left to adjust the difficulty with the rebellious 
troops. But the breach was easily healed ; a few liberal concessions on 
the part of the government sufficed to quiet the mutiny. 

About the middle of the same month the New Jersey brigade, sta- 
tioned at Pompton, revolted. This movement Washington quelled by 
force. General Robert Howe mai'ched to the camp with five hundred 
regulai-s and compelled twelve of the principal mutineers to execute the 
two leaders of the revolt. From that day order was completely restored. 
These insurrections had a good rather than a bad effect; Congress was 
thoroughly alarmed, and immediate ])rovisions were made for the better 
support of the army. An agent was sent to France to obtain a further 
loan of money. Robert Morris was appointed secretary of finance; the 
Bank of North America was organized ; and altliough the outstanding 
debts of the United States could not be paid, yet all future obligations were 
promptly met, for Morris and liis friends pledged their private fortunes 
to sustain the credit of the goverinnent. 

In the North military movements M-ere begun by Arnold. On 
arriving at New York the traitor had received the promised commission, 
and was now a brigadier-general in the British army. In the preceding 
November, Washington and Major Henry Lee formed a jjlan to capture 
him. Sergeant John Champe undertook the daring enterprise, deserted 
to the enemy, entered New York, joined Arnold's company, and with two 
assistants concerted measures to abduct him from the city and convey him 
to the American camp. But Arnold suddenly moved his quarters, and 
the plan was defeated. A month afterward he was given command of a 
fleet and a land-force of sixteen hundred men, and on the 16th of Decem- 
ber left New York to make a descent on the coasts of Virginia. 

Early in January the traitor entered James River and began war on 
his coimtrymen. His jiroceedings were marked with much ferocity, but 
not with the daring which characterized his former exploits. In the 



THE END. 347 

vicinity of Richmond a vast quantity of public and private property was 
destroyed. Tlie country along the river was devastated ; and when there 
was nothing left to excite his cupidity or gratify his revenge, Arnold took 
up his headquarters in Portsmouth, a few miles south of Hampton Roads. 
Again Washington planned his capture. The French fleet, anchored at 
Newport, was ordered to sail for Virginia to co-operate with La Fayette, 
who was sent in the direction of Portsmouth with a detachment of twelve 
hundred men. But Admiral Arbuthnot, being apprised of the movement, 
sailed from New York and drove the French squadron back to Rhode 
Island. La Fayette, deprived of the expected aid, was forced to abandon 
the undertaking, and Arnold again escaped. 

About the middle of April General Phillips arrived at Portsmouth 
with a force of two thousand British regulars. Joining his troops with 
those of Arnold, he assumed command of the whole, and again the fertile 
districts of Lower Virginia were ravaged with fire and sword. Early in 
May, Phillips died, and for seven days Arnold held the supreme com- 
mand of the British forces in Virginia. That was the height of his trea- 
sonable glory. On the 20th of the month Lord Cornwallis arrived at 
Petersburg and ordered him to begone. Returning to New York, he 
received from Clinton a second detachment, entered the Sound, landed at 
New London, in his native State, and captured the town. Fort Griswold, 
which was defended by Colonel Ledyard M'ith a hundred and fifty militia- 
men, was carried by storm. When Ledyard surrendered, the British 
officer who received his sword stabbed him to death ; it was the signal 
for a massacre of the garrison, seventy-three of wliom were murdered in 
cold blood ; of the remainder, thirty were wounded and the rest made 
prisoners. With this bloody and ignominious deed the name of Arnold 
disappears from American history. 

Meanwhile, some of the most stirring events of the war had occurred 
at the South. At the close of the preceding year General Greene had 
taken command of the American army — which was only the shadow of 
an army — at Charlotte, North Carolina. Cornwallis had fallen back in 
the direction of Camden. Greene with great energy reorganized his 
I'orces and divided them into an eastern and a western division ; the com- 
mand of the latter was given to General Morgan. In the first days of 
January this gallant officer was sent into the Spartanburg district of South 
Carolina to repress the tories and encourage the patriot militia. His suc- 
cess was such as to exasperate Cornwallis, who immediately despatched 
Colonel Tarleton with his famous cavalry legion to destroy Morgan's 
forces or drive them out of the State. The Americans, apprised of Tarle- 
ton's approach, took a favorable position at the Cowpens, where, on the 



348 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

17th of January, tluy Mere attacked by the Britisli, eleven liiindred strong. 
Tarleton, confident of success, made the onset with impetuosity ; but Mor- 
gan's men sustained tlie shock with firmuess, and, when tlie enemy's re- 
serves were called into action, either held their ground or retired in good 
order. At the crisis of the battle the American eavalrv, commanded by 
Colonel William "Washington, made a furious charge and scattered the 
British dragoons like chaff before them. The rout was complete — the vic- 
tory decisive. Washington and Tarleton had a personal encounter on the 
field, and the latter fled with a sword-gash in his hand. His corps was 
annihilated ; ten British officers and ninety privates were killed, and five 
hundred and twenty-three wore captured. Two pieces of artilleiy, eight 
hundred muskets and two flags were among the trophies of the battle. 

When Cornwallis, who was encamped with his army thirty miles 
down the Catawba, heard of the disaster to his arms, he maile a rapid 
march up the river to reach the fords in Morgan's rear. But Greene, 
who had also heard the news, hastened to the camp of Morgan, took com- 
mand in person and began a liasty retreat. At the same time he sent 
word to General- Huger, who commanded the eastern division, to fall 
back toward Charlotte, where it was proposed to form a junction of the 
two wings of the army. On the 28th of January Morgan's division 
reached the Catawba and crossed to the northern bank, with prisoners, 
spoils and baggage. Within two hoiu's the British van arrived at the 
ford ; l)ut it was already sunset, and Cornwallis concluded to wait for the 
morning; then he would cross and win an easy victory. During the 
night the clouds opened and poured down torrents; in the morning the 
river was swollen to a flood. It was many days before the British forced 
their way across, dispersing the militia on the opjiosite bank. And now 
began a second race, this time for the fords of the Yadkin. 

The distance was sixty miles and the roads wretched. In two days 
the Americans reached the river. The crossing was nearly effected, when 
the British appeared in sight, attacked the rearguard and captured a few 
wagons ; nothing else was injured. That night the Yadkin was made 
impassable by rains in the mountains, and Cornwallis was again delayed; 
Greene pressed forward to Guilfortl Court-House, where he arrived on the 
7th of February. The British mar'^ied up the Y^adkin to the shallow 
ford at Huntsville, where, on the 9th of the month, they succeeded in 
crossing. The lines of retreat and pursi.it were now parallel, and the two 
armies were less than twenty-five miles apart. A third time the race 
began, and again the Americans won it. On the 13th, Greene, with the 
main division, cros.setl the Dan into Yirgi.>ia, and '..n tne loiiowmg aay 
the American rearg-uanl entered th»^ boats am. wp.i, safe. The British van 



THE END. 349 

was already in sight and the whole array but a few miles distant. Never 
was a retreat more skillfully conducted. Cornwallis, mortified at his 
repeated failures, abandoned the pursuit and retired with liis aymy to 
Hillsborough. 

Once in Virginia, Greene was rapidly reinforced. After a few days 
of recruiting and rest he felt himself strong enough to begin offensive 
movements. On tiie 22d of February he recrossed the Dau into North 
Carolina. Meanwhile, Cornwallis had despatched Tarlctou with a body 
of cavalry into the region between the Haw and Deep Rivers to encourage 
the torles. Being inDjrmed of this movement, Greene sent Colonel Lee 
into the same district. Three hundred loyalists, already under ariris, 
were marching to join Tarleton. On the route they were intercejited by 
the American cavalry, whom, supposing them to be British, they saluted 
with a shout of " Long live the king !" Colonel Lee and his men quietly 
surrounded the unsuspecting tories, fell upon them as a band of traitoiv:, 
and killed or captured the entire company. 

By the addition of the Virginia militia Greene's army now num- 
bered four thousand four hundred men. Determining to avoid battle no 
longer, he marched to Guilford Court-House, took a strong position and 
awaited his antagonist. Cornwallis, accepting the challenge, at once 
moved forward to the attack. On the 1 5th of March the two armies met 
on Greene's chosen ground, and a severe but indecisive battle was fought. 
The forces of Greene were superior in numbers, and those of Cornwallis in 
discipline. If the American militia had stood firm, the result would not 
have been doubtful ; but the raw recruits behaved badly, broke line and 
fled. Confusion ensued ; the Americans fought hard, but were eventually 
driven from the field and forced to retreat for several miles. In killed 
and wounded the British loss \vas greatest ; but large bodies of the militia 
returned to their homes, reducing Greene's army to less than three thou- 
sand. Nevertheless, to the British the result was equivalent to a defeat. 

Cornwallis now boasted, made big proclamations, and then re- 
treateil. On the 7th of April he reached the sea-coast at Wilmington, 
and immediately thereafter proceeded to Virginia. How he arrived at 
Petersburg, supereeded Arnold and sent him out of the State has already 
been narrated. The British forces in the Carolinas remained under com- 
mand of Lord Rawdon, who M'as posted with a strong division at Cam- 
den, ^yith him General Greene, after the departure of Cornwallis, was 
left to contend. The American army was accordingly advanced into 
South Carolina. A detachment was sent against Fort Watson, on the 
east bank of the Santee, and the place M'as obliged to surrender. Greene 
marched with the main body to Hobkirk's Hill, a short distance north of 



350 HISTOnV OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Camden, posted his men in a strong position and awaited the movements 
of Rawdon. What that officer would do was not long a question of doubt. 
On the 25th of April he moved from Camden with his entire force and 
attacked the American camp. For once General Greene came near being 
surprised ; but his men were swiftly formed for battle ; Rawdon's column 
was badly arranged ; and for a while it seemed that the entire British 
force would be slain or captured. Just at the critical moment, however, 
some valuable American officers who commanded in the centre were 
killed; their regiments, becoming confused, fell back; Rawdon saw his 
advantage, pressed forward, broke the centre, captured the hill, and won 
the day. The Americans retired from the field, but saved their artillery 
and bore away the wounded. Again the genius of Greene made defeat 
seem little less than victory. 

On the 10th of May Lord Rawdon evacuated Camden and retired 
to Eutaw Springs, sixty-five miles above the mouth of the Santee. The 
British posts at Granby, Orangeburg, Fort ]\Iott and Augusta fell suc- 
'•essively into the hands of the patriots. By the 5th of June only Eutaw 
Springs, Charleston and Ninety-Six remained in possession of the enemy. 
Tiie latter place was already besieged by General Greene, who, after the 
battle of Hobkirk's Hill, advanced to Fort Granby, and thence to Ninety- 
Six. For twenty-seven days the siege was pressed with vigor. The 
supply of water was cut off from the fort, and the garrison could not 
have held out more than two days longer; but Lord Rawdon was 
rapidly aj)proaching with a force of two thousand men ; and the Ameri- 
cans, after an unsuccessful assault, were obliged, on the 18th of June, to 
raise the siege and retreat. Rawdon pursued, but Greene escaped, as 
usual, and the British, abandoning Ninety-Six, fell back to Orangeburg. 
Greene, with ceaseless activity, followed the retreating enemy, and would, 
but for their strength, have assaulted Rawdon's works. Deeming the 
position impregnable, the American general recrossed the Santee and took 
his station on the highlands in Sumter district. Here, in the healthful 
air of the hill-country, he jiassed the sickly months of summer. 

Sumter, Lee and Marion were constantly abroad, traversing the 
country in all directions, cutting off supplies from the enemy, breaking 
his lines of communication and smiting tlie tories right and left. Lord 
Rawdon now resigned the command of the British forces to Colonel Stuart 
and went to Charleston. While there he became a jirincipal actor in one 
of the most shameful scenes of the Revolution. Colonel Isaac Hayne, an 
eminent patriot who had formerly taken an oath of allegiance to the king, 
was caugiit in connnand of a troop of American cavalry. He was at once 
taken to Charleston, arraigned before Colonel Balfour, the commandant. 



THE END. 



3ol 



burried through the mockery of a trial and condemned to death. Ra-.v- 
don gave his sanction, and on the 31st of July Colonel Hayne was hanged. 
Just men in Europe joined with the patriots of America in denouacing the 
act as worthy of barbarism. 

On the 22d of August General Greene left the heights of the Santee 
»nd marched toward Orangeburg. Tlie British decamjjed at his approach 
dnd took post at Eutaw Springs, forty miles below. The Americans 
pressed after them and overtook them ou the 8th of September. One 
of the fiercest battles 
of the war ensued ; and 
General Greene was 
denied a decisive vic- 
tory only by the bad 
conduct of some of his 
men, who, before the 
field was fairly won, 
abandoned themselves 
to eating and drink- 
ing in the enemy's 
camp. Stuart rallied 
his troops, returned to 
tlie charge and regain- 
e d his position. 
Greene, after losing 
five hundred and fifty- 
five men, gave over 
tlie struggle. The 
British lost in killed 
and wounded nearly 
seven hundred, and 
more than five hun- 
dred prisoners. On 

the day after the battle Stuart hastily retreated to Monk's Corner ; Greent 
followed \vith his army, and after two months of manoeuvring and de- 
sultory warfare the British were driven into Charleston. In the mean 
time. General St. Clair had cleared North Carolina by forcing the enemy 
to evacuate Wilmington. In the m hole country south of Virginia only 
Charleston and Savannah remained under dominion of the king's army ; 
the latter city was evacuated by the British on the 11th of July, and the 
former on the 14th of December, 1782. Such was the close of the Revo- 
lutioa io the Carolinas and Georgia. 




GENERAL GREENE. 



352 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

But tlie final scene wixs to be enacted in ^'irginia. Tliere, in the 
last days of April, 1781, Cornwallis took command of the British army 
and began to ravage tlie country on both banks of the James. In the 
course of the following two months property, public and private, wa« 
destroyed to the value of fifteen million dollars. La Fayette, to whom 
the defence of the State had been entrusted, was unable to meet Con:. 
%vallis in the field, but watched his movements with sleepless vigilance. 
While the British were in the vicinity of Richmond a detachment under 
Tarleton proceeded as far west as Charlottesville, where the ^'irginia 
legLslature was in session. The town was taken, the country de\-astated, 
and ticven members of the assembly made prisoners. Governor Jeflersou 
escaped only by riding into the mountains. 

^Mien there was little left to destroy, Cornwallis marclied down 
the nortli bank of tiie James to Green Springs, eight miles above the site 
of Jamestown. He had received orders from Sir Henry Clinton to de- 
scend the river and tiike such a position on the coast as would keej) the 
army within supporting distance of New York ; for Clinton was very 
apprehensive that Washington and the French would attack him. La 
Fayette hovered upon the rear of Cornwallis; and on the Gth of July, 
when it wa.s su])posed that the main body of the enemy had crossed the 
James, General Wayne, who led the American advance, suddenly attacked 
the whole British army. Cornwallis was so surprised by tlie audacious 
onset that when W^ayne, seeing his mistake, made a hasty retreat, no pur- 
suit was attempted. The loss of the two armies was ecjual, being a hun- 
dred and twentv on each side. After the passage of James River, the 
Britisii marched to Portsmouth, where Arnold had had his lieadquarters 
in the jirevious spring There Cornwallis would liave fortified himself; 
l)ut the orders of Clinton were otlierwise; and in the first days of August 
the army was again embark(>d antl conveyed tn Yorktown, on the southern 
bank of York River, a few miles above the moutli. 

La Fayette quickly advanced into the peninsula and took post but 
eight miles distant from the British. From this position he sent urgent 
despatches to Washington, beseeching him to come to Virginia and aid in 
striking tiie enemy a fatal blow. A powerful French armament, coni' 
manded by Count de Grasse, was hourly exjiected in the Cliesapeake 
and La Favette saw at a glance that if a fleet could be anchored in tJie 
mouth of York River, cutting off retreat, the doom of Cornwallis would 
be sealed. During the months of July and August, ^^'^shington, from 
his camp on the Hudson, looked wistfully to the South. But all tlie while 
Clinton was kejit in feverish alarm by false despatches, written for the 
purpose of falling into his hands. These intercepte<i messages indicated 



THE END. 



353 



that the Americans and French would immediately begin the siege of 
New York ; and for that Clinton made ready. When, in the last days 
of August, he was informed that Washington had broken up his camp 
and was already marching with his whole army toward Virginia, the 
British general would not believe it, but went on pre^jaring for a siege. 
Washington pressed rapidly forward, paused two days at Mount VernoUj 
where he had not been for six years, and met La Fayette at Williams- 
burg. Meanwhile, on the 30th of August, the French fleet, numbering 
twenty-eight ships of the line, with nearly four thousand troops on board, 
had reached the Chesapeake and safely anchored in the mouth of York 
River. Cornwallis, with the British army, was blockaded both by sea 
and land. 

To add still further to the strength of the allies. Count de Barras, 
M-ho commanded tlie French flotilla at Newport, sailed into the Chesa- 
peake with eight ships of the 
line and ten transports, bear- 
ing cannon for the siege. On 
the 5th of September the 
English admiral Graves ap- 
peared in the bay, and a naval 
battle ensued, in whicli the 
British ships were so roughly 
iiandled that they returned 
to New York. On the 28th 
of September the allied 
armies, superior in numbers 
and confident of success, en- 
camped around Yorktown. 
The story of the siege is brief. 
Tai'leton, who occupied Glou- 
cester Point, on the other side 

of the river, made one spirited sally, but was driven back with severe 
loss. On the night of the 6th of October the trenches were opened at the 
distance of six hundred yards from the British works. The canjQonade 
was constant and effective. On the 11th of the month the allies drew 
their second parallel withm three hundred yards of Cornwall is's redoubts. 
On the night of the 14t]i the enemy's outer works were carried by storm. 
At daydawn of the 16th the British made a sortie, only to be hurled back 
into their entrenchments. On the next day Cornwallis proposed a sur- 
render; on the 18th terms of capitulation were drawn up and signed; 

and at two o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th Major-General O'Hara— 

23 •' 




SIEGE OF YORKTOWN, OCTOBER, 1781. 



354 HIHTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

for Cornwallis, feigning sickness, remained in his tent — led the whole 
British army from the trenches into an open field, where, in the presence 
cf the allied ranks of France and America, seven thousand two hundred 
and forty -seven English and Hessian soldiers laid down their arms, de- 
livered their standards, and became prisoners of war. Eight liundred 
and forty sailors were also surrendered. Seventy-five brass and thirty- 
one iron guns were taken, together with all the accoutrements of the 
army. 

By a swifl courier tiie news was borne to Congress. On the even- 
ing of the 23d the messenger rode into Philadelphia. When the sentinels 
of the city called the hour of ten that night, they added, " and Cornwallis 
is taken." On the morrow Congress assembled, and before that august 
body the despatch of Washington was read. The members, exulting and 
weejiing for gladness, went in concourse with the citizens to the Dutch 
Lutheran churcii and turned the afternoon into a thanksgiving. The note 
of rejoicing sounded tiirough the length and breadth of the land ; for it 
was seen that the dominion of the Briton in America was for ever broken. 

After the surrender the conquered army was marched under guard 
to the barracks of Lancaster. Washington, with the victorious Americans 
and French, returned to the camps of New Jersey and the Hudson. On 
the Continent of Europe tlie news was received with every demonstration 
of gladness. In England the king and his ministers heard the tidings 
with mortification and rage ; but the English people were either secretly 
pleased or openly rejoiced. During the fall and winter tiie ministerial 
majority in Parliament fell off rapidly; and on the 20th of March, 1782, 
Lord North and his friends, unable longer to conduct the government, 
resigned their offices. A new ministry was immediately formed, favor- 
able to America, favorable to freedom, favorable to peace. In the begin- 
ning of ^lay the command of tiie British forces in the United States was 
transferred from Clinton to Sir Guy Carleton, a man friendly to American 
interests. The iiostile demonstrations of the enemy, now confined to New 
York and Charleston, ceased ; and Washington made no efforts to dis- 
lodge the flje, for the war had really ended. 

In the summer of 1 782 Richard Oswald was sent by Parliament 
to Paris. The object of his mission was to confer with Franklin and 
Jay, tiie ambassadors of tlie United States, in regard to the terms of 
peace. Before tlie discussions were ended, John Adams, arriving from 
Amsterdam, and Henry Laurens from London, entered into the negotia- 
tions. On the 30th of November preliminaiy articles of peace were 
agreed to and signed on the part of Great Britain by Oswald, and on be- 
half of the United States by Franklin, Adams, Jay and Laurens. In 



THE END. 355 

tlie following April the terms were ratified by Congress; but it was 
not until the 3d of September, 1783, that a final treaty was ett'ected be- 
tween all tlie nations that had been at war. On that day the ambassadors 
of Holland, Spain, England, Fran(« and the United States, in a solemn 
conference at Paris, agreed to and signed the articles of a permanent 
peace. 

The terms of the Treaty of 1 783 were briefly these : A full 
and comjilete recognition of the independence of the United States ; the 
recession by Great Britain of Florida to Spain ; the surrender of all the 
remaining territory east of the IMississippi and south of the great lakes to 
the United States ; the free navigation of the INIississippi and the lakes 
by American vessels ; the concession of mutual rights in the Newfound- 
land fisheries ; and the retention by Great Britain of Canada and Xova 
Scotia, with the exclusive control of the St. Lawrence. 

Early in August Sir Guy Carleton received instructions to evacuate 
New York city. Three months were spent in making arrangements for 
this important event. Finally, on the 25th of November, everything 
was in readiness; the British army was embarked on board the fleet; the 
sails were spread ; the ships stood out to sea ; dwindled to white specks 
on the horizon ; disappeared. The Briton was gone. After the struggles 
and sacrifices of an eight years' war the patriots had achieved the inde- 
pendence of their country. The United States of America took an equal 
station among the nations of the earth. 

Nine days after Carleton 's departure there was a most affecting 
scene in the city. Washington assembled his officers and bade them a 
final adieu. When they were met, the chieftain spoke a few affectionate 
words to his comrades, who came forward in turn and with tears and 
sobs which the veterans no longer cared to conceal bade him farewell. 
Washington then walked to Whitehall, followed by a vast concourse of 
citizens and soldiers, and thence departed to Aimapolis, where Congress 
was in session. On his way he paused at Philadelphia and made to the 
proper officers a report of his expenses during the war. The account \vas 
in his own handwriting, and covered a total expenditure of seventy-four 
thousand four hundred and eighty-five dollars — all correct to a cent. 
The route of the chief from Paulus's Hook to Anna]iolis was a continuous 
triumph. The people by hundreds and thousands flocked to the villages 
and roadsides to see him pass ; gray-headed statesmen to speak words of 
^raise ; young men to shout with enthusiasm ; maidens to strew his way 
.•ith flowers. 

On the 23d of December Washington was introduced to Congress. 
To that body of patriotic sages he delivered an address full of feeling. 



356 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



wisdom and modesfy. Then with that dignity which always marked his 
conduct he surrendered liis commission ad commander-in-chief of the 
American army. General Mifflin, the president of Congress, responded 
in an eloquent manner, and then the hero retired to his home at Mount 
Vernon. The man whom, the year before, some disaffected soldiers were 
going to make king of America, now, by his own act, became a citizen 
of the Kepublie. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

CONFEDERATION AND UNION. 



TOURING the progress of the Revolution the civil government of the 
-'--' United States was in a deplorable condition. Nothing but the im- 
minent peril of the country had, in the firet place, led to the calling of a 
Continental Congress. And when that body assembled, it had no method 
of proceeding, no constitution, no power of efficient action. The two 
great wants of the country were money to carry on the war and a central 
authority to direct the war: the former of these was never met; and 
Washington was made to supply the latter. Whenever Congress would 
move in the direction of a firmer government, division would spring up, 
and action would be checked by the remonstrance of jealous colonies. 
Nevertheless, the more far-seeing statesmen of the times labored constantly 
to create substantial political institutions. 

Foremost of all those who worked for better government was Ben- 
jamin Franklin. As early as the times of the French and Indian War 
he began to agitate the question of a permanent union of the colonies. 
During the troubled years just ])receding the Revolution he brooded ovei 
his cherished project, and in 1775 laid before Congress the plan of a per- 
petual confederation of the States. But the attention of tliat body wa.s 
wholly occupied ^\•ith the stirring events of the day, and Franklin's 
measure received but little notice. Congress, without any real authority^ 
began to conduct the government, and its legislation was generally ac- 
cepted Iiy the States. Still, the central authority was only an authority 
by sufferance, and was liable at any time to be annulled by the caprice 
of State legislatures. 

Under such a system thinking men grew restless. On the 11th of 
June, 1776, a committee was appointed by Congress to prepare a plan 



CONFEDERATION AND UNION. 357 

of confederation. After a month the work was completed and laid before 
the house. Another month was spent in fruitless debates, and then the 
question was laid over till the following spring. In April of 1777 the 
discussion was resumed, and continued tlirough the summer. Meanwhile, 
the power of Great Britain being overtlirown, the States had all adopted 
republican governments, and the sentiment of national union had made 
considerable headway. Finally, on the 15th of November, a vote was 
taken in Congress, and the articles of confederation reported by the com- 
mittee were adopted. The next step was to transmit the articles to the 
several State legislatures for ratification. The time thus occupied ex- 
tended to tlie following June, and then the new fi'ame of government was 
returned to Congress with many amendments. These having been con- 
sidered and the most serious objections removed, the articles were signed 
by the delegates of eight States on the 9th of July, 1778. Later in the 
same month the representatives of Georgia and North Carolina affixed 
their signatures. In Xovember the delegates of New Jersey, and in the 
following February those of Delaware, signed the compact. Maryland 
held aloof; and it was not until March of 1781 that the consent of that 
commonwealth could be obtained. Thus the Revolution was nearly 
ended before the new system was finally ratified. 

The government of the United States under the articles of con- 
federation was a democratic republic. It presented itself under the form 
of A Loose Union of Independknt Commonwealths — a con- 
federacy of sovereign States. The executive and legislative jiowers of 
the general government were vested in Congress — a body composed of 
not less than two nor more than seven representatives from each State. 
But Congress could exercise no other than delegated jioioers; the sover- 
eignty was reserved to the States. The most important of the exclusive 
privileges of Congress were the right of making war and jjeace, the regu- 
lation of foreign intercourse, the power to receive and send ambassadors, 
the control of the coinage of money, the settlement of disputed boundaries 
and the care of the public domain. There was no chief magistrate of the 
Eepublic; and no general judiciary was provided for. The consent of 
nine States was necessary to complete an act of legislation. In voting 
each State cast a single ballot. The union of the States was declared to 
be perpetual. 

On the day of the ratification of the articles by Maryland the old 
Congress adjourned, and on the following morning reassembled under the 
new form of government. From tiie very first the inadequacy of that 
government was manifest. To begin with, it contradicted the doctrines 
of the Declaration of Independence. Congress had but a shadow of 



358 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

authority, and tliat shadow, instead of proceeding from the people 
emanated from States whicli wave declared to be sovereign and inde- 
pendent. The first great duty of tlie new government was to provide 
for tlie payment of the war debt, whieh had now reached the sum of 
tliirty-eiglit million dollai's. Congress could only recommend to tlie 
several States the levying of a sutlicient tax to meet the indebtedness 
Some of the States made the required levy ; others were dilatory ; others 
refused. At the very outset the government was balked and thwarted. 
The serious troubles that attended the disbanding of the army were trace- 
able rather to the inability than to the indisposition of Congress to pay the 
soldiers. The princely fortune of Robert Morris was exhausted and him- 
self brought to poverty in a vain effort to sustain the credit of the govern- 
ment. For three years after tlie treaty of peace public affairs were in a 
condition Itordering on chaos. The imperiled state of the Republic was 
viewed with alarm by the sagacious patriots who had carried the Revolu- 
tion to a successful issue. It was seen that unless the articles of confedera- 
tion could be rej)laced with a better system the nation would go to ruin. 

The jiroject of remodeling the government originated at Alount 
Vernon. In 1785, Washington, in conference with a company of states- 
men at his home, advised the calling of a convention to meet at Annapolis 
in the following year. The proposition was received with favor ; and in 
September of 1786 the representatives of five States assembled. Th<^ 
question of a tariff on imports was discussed ; and then the attention of 
the delegates was turned to a revision of the articles of confederation. 
Since only a minijrity of the States were represented in the conference, it 
was resolved to adjourn until INIay of the following year, and all the 
States M'ere urgently requested to send representatives at that time. 
Congress also invited the several legislatures to appoint delegates to the 
proposed convention. All of the States except Rhode Island responded 
to the call ; and on the second Monday in Maj', 1787, the representatives 
assembled at Philadelphia. Washington, who was a delegate from Vir- 
ginia, was chosen president of the convention. A desultory discussion 
followed until the 29th of the month, when Edmund Randolph intro- 
duced a resolution to set aside the articles of confederation and adopt a 
new constitution. There was further debate ; and then a committee was 
appointed to revise the articles. Early in Sejitember the work was done ; 
the report of the committee was adopted ; and that report was the Con- 
stitution OF THE United States.* At the same time it was resolved 
to seiid copies of the new instrument to the several legislatures for ratifi- 
cation or rejection. 

* The Constitution was written by Gouverneur Morris, of Pennsylvania. 



CONFEDERA TION AND UNION. 



359 



While the constitutional convention was in session at Philadel- 
phia the last colonial Congress was sitting in New York. The latter 
body was in a feeble and distracted condition. Only eight States 
were rejiresented. It was evident that the old Confederation, under 
which the colonies had won their freedom, was tottering to its fall- 
Nevertheless, before the 
iidjournment of Con- 
gress, a measure was suc- 
cessfully carried through 
which was only second in 
imj)ortance to the forma- 
tion of the constitution. 
This was the organiza- 
tion of THE NORTH- 

M'ESTERN Territory. 
As a preliminary meas- 
ure this vast domain was 
ceded to the United 
States by Virginia, New 
York, Massachusetts, 
and Connecticut. For 
the government of the 
territory an ordinance, 
drawn up l)y Mr. Jeffer- 
son, was adopted on the 
13th of July, 1787. General Arthur St. Clair, tlien president of Congress, 
received the appointment of military governor, and in the summer of 
the following year began his duties with headquarters at Marietta. 
By the terms of the ordinance it was stipulated that not less than 
three nor more than live States should be formed out of the great 
territory thus brought under the dominion of civilization ; that the 
States when organized should be admitted on terms of equality with 
the original members of the confederation, and that slavery should be 
prohibited. Out of this noble domain the five great States of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin were destined in after 
times to be formed and added to the Union. 

On the question of adopting the Constitution the people were 
divided. It was the first great political agitation in the country. 
Tliose who favored the new frame of government were called Fed- 
eralists; those who opposed, Anti-Federalists or Republicans. 
The leaders of the former party were Washington, Jay, Madison, and 




ALEXANDEI: HAMILTON. 



360 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Hamilton, the latter statesman throwing the whole force of his genius 
and learning into the controversy. In those able papers called the Fed- 
eralist he and Madison successfully answered every objection of the 
anti-Federal party. Hamilton was the first and perhaps the greatest 
expounder of constitutional liberty in America. To him the Republic 
owes a debt of perpetual gratitude for having established on a firm and 
enduring basis the true principles of free government. 

Under the Constitution of the United States the powers of gov- 
ernment are arranged under three heads — IjEGIslative, Executive, 
and Judicial. The legislative power is vested in Congress — a bodv 
composed of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The member* 
of the Senate are chosen by the legislatures of the several States, and 
serve for a period of six years. Each State is represented by two Sen- 
ators. The members of the House of Representatives are elected by 
the people of the respective States ; and each State is entitled to a num- 
ber of representatives proportionate to the jiojiulation of that State. 
The members of this branch are chosen for a term of two years. Con- 
gress is the law-making power of the nation ; and all legislative ques- 
tions of a general character are the appropriate subjects of congress- 
ional action. 

The executive power of the United States is vested in a Pres- 
ident, Avho is cliosen for a period of finir years by a body of men 
called the electoral college. The electors composing the college are 
chosen by the people of the several States ; and each State is entitled 
to a number of electors equal to the number of its representatives and 
senators in Congress. The duty of the President is to enforce the laws 
of Congress in accordance with the Constitution. He is commander- 
in-chief of the armies and navies of the United States. Over the 
legislation of Congress he has the power of veto; but a two-thirds con- 
gressional majority may pass a law without the President's consent. 
He has the right of appointing cabinet ofScei's and foreign ministers; 
but all of his appointments must be approved by the Senate. The 
treaty-making power is also lodged with the President; but here again 
the concurrence of the Senate is necessary. In case of the death, resig- 
nation, or removal of the President, the Vice-President becomes chief 
magistrate ; otherwise his duties are limited to presiding over the Senate. 

The judicial power of the United States is vested in a supreme 
court and in inferior courts established by Congress. The highest 
judicial officer is the chief-justice. All the judges of the supreme and 
inferior courts hold their offices during life or good behavior. The 
jurisdiction of these courts extends to all causes arising under the 



CONFEDERATION AND UNION. 361 

Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States. The riglit of 
trial by jury is granted in all cases except the impeachment of public 
officers. Treason against the United States consists only in levying 
war against them, or in giving aid and comfort to their enemies. 

The Constitution further jjrovides that full faith shall be given 
in all the States to the records of every State; that the citizens of any 
■State shall be entitled to the privileges of citizens in all the States ; 
that new territories may be organized and new States admitted into 
the Union ; that to every State shall be guaranteed a republican form 
of government ; and that the Constitution may be altered or amended 
whenever the same is projiosed l:)y a two-thirds majority of both houses 
of Congress, and ratified by three-fourths of the legislatures of the sev- 
eral States. In accordance with this last provision fifteen amendments 
have been made to the Constitution. The most important of these are 
the articles which guarantee religious freedom ; change the method of 
electing President and Vice-President; abolish slavery; and forbid 
the abridgment of suffrage on account of race or color.* 

Such was the Constitution adopted, after much debate, for the 
government of the American people. Would the people ratify it ? or 
had the work been done in vain? The little State of Delaware M'as 
first to answer the question. In her convention on tlie 3d of Decem- 
ber, 1787, the voice of the commonwealth was unanimously recorded 
in favor of the new Constitution. Ten davs later Pennsvlvania gave 
her decision by a vote of forty-six to twenty-three in favor of ratifi- 
cation. On the 19th of December New Jersey added her approval 
by a unanimous vote; and on the 2d of the following month Georgia 
did the same. On the 9th of January the Connecticut convention 
followed, with a vote of a hundred and twenty-eight to forty, in favor 
of adoption. In Massachusetts the battle was hard fought and barely 
won. A ballot, taken on the 6th of February, resulted in ratification 
by the close vote of a hundred and eighty-seven to a hundred and 
sixty-eight. This really decided the contest. On the 28th of April 
Maryland rendered her decision by the strong vote of sixty-three to 
twelve. Next came the ratification of South Carolina by a vote of a 
hundred and forty-nine to seventy-three. In the New Hampshire 
convention there was a hard struggle, but the vote for adoption finally 
Btood fifty-seven to forty-six, June 21st, 1788. This was the ni)if/t, 
State, and the work was done. For, by its own terms, the new gov- 
ernment was to go into operation when nine States should ratify. The 
great commonwealth of Virginia still hesitated. "Washington and 

* See Appendix F. 



362 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Madison were for the Constitution ; but Jefferson and Henry were 
opposed. Not until the 25tli of June did her eonvention declare for 
adoption, and then only by a vote of eighty-nine to seventy-nine. 
It was now clear that the new government would be organized, 
and this fact was brought to bear as a powerful argument in favor of 
adoption by the convention at Poughkeepsie. The hope that New 
York city would be the seat of the Federal government also acted as 
a motive, and a motion to ratify was finally carried, July 27th, 1788. 
Only Rhode Island and North Carolina persisted in tiieir refusal. But 
in the latter State a new convention was called, and on the 13th of 
November, 1789, the Constitution was formally adopted. As to Rhode 
Island, her pertinacity was in inverse ratio to her importance. At 
length Providence and Newport seceded from the commonwealth : tiie 
cjuestion of dividing the teritory between Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut was raised, and the refractory member at last yielded by adopting 
the Constitution, May 29th, 1790. Then, for the first time, the Eng- 
lish-speaking race in the New World was united under a common gov- 
ernment — strong enough for safety, liberal enough for freedom. 

In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and a reso- 
lution of Congress, the first Wednesday of January, 1789, was named 
as the time for the election of a chief magistrate. The })eoj)le had but 
one voice as to the man who should be honored with that trust. Earl; 
in April the ballots of the electors were counted in the jiresence of 
Congress, and George Washington was unanimously chosen President 
and John Adams Vice-President of the United States. On the 14th 
of the montii Washington received notification of his election, and 
departed for New Y(n-k. His route thither was a constant triumj)h. 
Maryland welcomed him at Georgetown. Philadel])hia by her execu- 
tive council, the trustees of her university, and the officers of the Cin- 
cinnati, did him honor. How did the people of Trenton exult in the 
presence of the hero who twelve years before had fought their battle! 
There over the bridge of the Assanpink they built a trium])hal arch, 
and girls in white ran before, singing and strewing the way witii flow- 
ers. At Elizabethtown he was met by the })rincipal officers of the gov- 
ernment and welcomed to the capital where he was to become the first 
chief magistrate of a free and grateful people. With this auspicious 
event the period of revolution and confederation ends, and the era of 
nationality in the New Republic is ushered in. Long and glorious '«t 
the history of that Re})ublic, bought with the blood of patriots,, and 
consecrated in the s(nT0ws of our fathers ! 



PART V. 

NATIONAL PEEIOD. 

A. D. 17S9— 1882. 







CHAPTER XLVI. 

WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION, 17S9-1797. 

N" the 30th of April, 1789, Washington was duly inaugurated first 
President of the United States. The new government was to have 
frone into operation on 
the 4th of March, but 
the event was con- 
siderably delayed. 
The inaugural cere- 
mony was performed 
on the balcony of the 
r>ld City Hall, on the 
present site of the 
Custom-House, in 
Wall street. Chancel- 
lor Livingston of Xew 
York administered the 
oath of office. The 
streets and house-tops 
were thronged with 
people ; flags flutter- 
ed ; cannon boomed 
from the Battery. As 
50on as the jiublic cere- 
mony was ended, 
Washington retired to 
the Senate chamber 
and delivered his in- 
augural address. The organization of the two houses of Congress had 
already been effected. 

(363) 




"WASHINriTON. 



3G4 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The new government was embarrassed with many difficulties. The 
opponents of the Constitution were not yet silenced, and from the begin- 
ning they caviled at the measures of the adininistwition. By the treaty 
of 1 783 tlie free navigation of the Mississippi had been guaranteed. Now 
the jealous Spaniards of New Orleans liindered the passage of American 
ships. The jK'ople of the West looked to the great river as tlie natural 
outlet of their commerce ; they nnist be protected in tlieir rights. On 
many parts of the frontier the malignant Red men were still at war with 
the settlers. As to financial credit, the United States had none. In the 
very beginning of his arduous duties Washington was prostrated with 
sickness, and tiie business of government was for many weeks delayed. 

Not until September were the first important measures adopted. 
On tlie 10th of that month an act was passed by Congress instituting a 
department of foreign affairs, a treasury department and a department of 
war. As members of his cabinet Wasiiington nominated Jefferson, Knox 
and Hamilton ; the first as secretary of foreign affairs ; the second, of war ; 
and the third, of tlie treasuiy. In accordance with the provisions of the 
Constitution, a sui>reme court was also organized, John Jay receiving the 
appointment of first chief-justice. With him were joined as associate 
justices John Rutledge of South Carolina, James Wilson of Pennsyl- 
vania, William Cushing of Massachusetts, John Blair of Virginia, 
and James Iredell of North Carolina. Edmund Randolph was chosen 
attorney-general. Many constitutional anieudments were now brough; 
forward, and ten of them adopted. By this action on the part of 
Congress, the objections of North Carolina and Rhode Island were 
removed and both States ratified the Constitution, the former in No- 
vember of 1789 and the latter in the following May. 

On the 29th of September, 1789, Congress adjourned until tlie 
following January, and Washington availed himself of the opportu- 
nity thus offered to make a tour of the Eastern States. Accompanied 
by his secretaries, he set out in his carriage from New York on tiie 
15th of October, and nine days afterward reached Boston. At every 
point on the route the affection of the people, and especially of the 
Revolutionary veterans, burst out in unbounded enthusiasm. On 
reaching Boston the President was welcomed by Governor John 
Hancock and the selectmen of the city. No pains were spared that 
could add to the comfort and pleasure of the new nation's chief mag- 
istrate. After remaining a week among the scenes associated with 
his first command of the American army, he proceeded to Portsmouth 
and thence returned with improved health and peace of mind by way 
of Hartford to New York. 



1780 



03 



97 



1801 



French 



Geor 



Kevoliition. Napo 

97. Piuckney rejected 
94. Partition of i Poland. 
93. Execution of Louis XVI. 99. Overth 

93. Fall of the Girond ists. 99. Napole 

93. Reigu of Te rror. 

94. Fall of Robes I pierre. 1 800. 

Jje III. 90. Gr eat political disturbanc 



Washington, 

91. Vermon 

the 

89. North Carolina rat 

90. Rhode Island 

90. Seat of govern 



leon Bonapar 

by the French Directo 
4. The 
row of the Directory. 
on,First Consul. . jj 



President. 

t admitted into 

Union. 

ifies the Constitution. 
96. Te 

ratifies the Constituti 

ment at Philadelphia. 



94. 



\ 1 1 Wayne's 



92. K 

Wash 

91. R|'S'«. 
91. Bank of 



John Adams, Vice- 
Jo 

John Jay, Chief- 

Jefi'erson, Secret 

Hamilton, Sec 

Knox, Secre 



93. Genet, French min 
entufky admitted into 

ington re-elected 
CJa ir's defeat. 

the United States estab 

94. Whisky Insur 
95. Jay's T 
President. 

hn Adams re-elected 
Justice, 
ary of State. 
retary of Treasury, 
tary of War. 



Bombardment of 
Copenhagen, 
llarengo. 

es in England. 



ISOO. 
to 

nnessee admitted into 
on. 1800. 

John Adams, 

99. Washin 
98. War with Fra 



victory. 

ister at Washington, 
the Union. 99. Treaty 
President. 



lished. 



rectiou. 
reatv. 



te. 

great In 
oleon, Ei 

6. , 
C.I 



into the 
gOTcram 

and Sedi 

non, a. 6' 
milton 1 



2. Ohio admitted 

Removal of the seat of 
Washington, D. C. 
the Union. 
Passage of the Alien 

President. 

gton dies at Mount Ver 
nee. 

4. Ha 



with France. 



Thomas Jeifer I son, i 

5. The s 
lis! 



Thomas Jefferson, 

Vice-President. 







Vice-President. 



1. Aaron Bnrr. Vice- 
1. War with Tripoli. 

3. Commod 
3. Purchase 



Jeflfe 



Presiden 



Georgi 

ore Prel 

of Loui 



13 



17 



31 



1835 







14. Deposition of 


Napoleon. 






9. Divorce of Joseph! 


ne 14. liOuis XVIII. 




21. Napoleon dies. 


8. The 


Peuiusular War. 




9"-" 




24. Charles X. 


Delliou. 


10. Marriage of N 


apoleon 1.5. 


terloo, anH banishment 


of Napoleon. 


reaty of 


Tilsit. to Maria 


Lonisa. 








12. In 


vasion of Ihi.ssia. 








Orders in Coua 


cil. 15. Treaty 


of Paris. 






ITto 


15. Rise of 


the Radical Party in 


England. 




9. m 11 U'agrmn. 




George IV. 




Tltt. 


flK-JtS 


Kfcie.Pa 


rliamentary reforms. 




ieofthe 


coast from Brest to 
the Elbe. 


15. pgiSomft 


ardment of Algiers. 




z. 




15. War wi 


th Algiers. 






James 


Madison, Presid 


ent. 




. 


12. Su 


rrender of Mackinaw. 








«^12.Su 


rrender of Detroit. 








11. Pi^i^^a 


canoe. 14. Hartford Co 


nvention. 






enry Dearborn appoin 


ted commander-in-chi 


ef. 








20. M 


aine admitted into 


aws. 


ll.^^raeiV 


14. |i 1| Capture 
esident uud Little Belt. 


the 
of York. 


Union. 


iu a du 


el. f^ 


Madison re-elec 


ted President. 




conspir 


acy. 12. Se 


cond embargo. 








12. W 


ar declared against Gr 


eat Britain. 






12. Pi 




IS. The Seminole 


War. 




Fort Dearborn. 


18. Capture of St. 


Marks and Pensacola. 
24. Vis- 




George Clinton re- 


elected Vice-President. 




it of La 




12. Pi 


14. Capture and 


burning of Washingt 


on. Fayette. 




Queenstown. 


James Monro 


e, President. 


nt. 


12. P 


The Constitution and 


the Guerriere. 


Monroe re-elect- 


of patro 


nage estab- ^_^ 
lie offices. 12. ^2 


14. Treaty of Gh 


cut. 


ed President. 


the pub 


The Wasp and the Frol 


ic. 






12.^ 


The United States and 


the Macedonian. 


21. Missouri admitted 
into the Union. 


I re-elec 


ted President. !«:» 

12. |eS 










The Constittdion and 


the Java. 




■■irst stea 


mboat on the Hudson 


13. |M^'-f"c/!«owft. 
14. ^Qi?orti)/c 


18. Illinois admit 

Henry, 

Daniel Tompkins, 


ted into the Union. 
Vice-President. 


Attack 


on the Chesapeake. 


Klfe IG- Ii 


diaua admitted into 


the Union. 


Passage 


of the Embargo Act. 


13. |J|ji'0rtifCT?S. 




Tompkins re-elect- 
ed Vice-President. 






13. Iwxi Perry's victo 


ry. 19. Alabam 


a admitted 


iton, Vi 


ce-President. 


Vi^^Xi .^ 


iu 


to the Union. 


it to the 


Mediterranean. 


13.fj^T/ir Thames. 










. 


21. Rise of the Slavery 






15. ^^XewOrlea 


ns. 


agitation. 






13.pl Horseshoe Bend. 




21. The Missouri Com- 
promise. 






13- Ii3a ^''« Hornet 


and the Peacock. 








r~-^ The Chesapea 


ke a7id the Shannon. 






12. Lo 


uisiana admitted into 
Elbridge Gerry, Vi 

13. ^W The Argus 


the Union. 
ce-President. 

and the Pelican. 








14. 


^VjI Lundy's 


Lane. 










17. Mississippi admitt 


ed into the Union. 






li!^Plattsburg. 


19. Florida 
United 


ceded to the 

States. 



WASHINGTON' S ADMINISTRATION. 365 

111 the tir«t months of his administration Washington was much 
vexed about questions of ceremony and etiquette. How should he 
appear in public? How often? What kind of entertainment should 
he give? Who should be invited? What title should he bear? And 
in what manner be introduced ? In these matters there was no pre- 
cedent to guide him; for who had ever held such a station before? 
He must not, on the one hand, demean himself like a king, surrounded 
with peers and courtiers, nor, on the other hand, must he degrade his 
high office by such l)lunt democratical ceremonies as would render 
himself ridiculous and the Pi'esidency contemptible. In his embar- 
rassment AVashington sought the advice of Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, 
and others in regard to a suitable etiquette and ceremonial for the 
Republican court. Adams in answer would have much ceremony ; 
Jefferson, none at all. The latter said : " I hope that the terms Excel- 
lency, Honor, Worship, Esquire, and even Mr. shall shortly and 
forever disappear from among us." Hamilton's reply favored a mod- 
erate and simple formality ; and this view was adopted by Washington 
as most consistent with the new frame of government. In the mean- 
time Congress had declared that the chief magistrate should have no 
title other than that of his office ; namely, President of the United 
States. So with ceremonies few and simple the order of affairs in the 
1 )residential office was established. 

The national deV)t, however, was the greatest and most threat- 
cuing question; but the genius of Hamilton triumphed over every 
difiiculty. The indebtedness of the United States, including the 
revolutionary expenses of the several States, amounted to nearly 
eighty millions of dollars. Hamilton adopted a broad and honest 
policy. His plan, which was laid before Congress at the beginning 
of the second session, proposed that the debt of the United States 
due to American citizens, as well as the war debt of the individual 
States, should be assumed by the general government, and that all 
should be fully jKiid. By this measure the credit of the country was 
vastly improved, even before actual payment was begun. As a 
means of augmenting the revenues of the government a duty was 
laid on the tonnage of merchant-ships, with a discrimination in favor 
of American vessels ; and customs were levied on all imported arti- 
cles. Hamilton's financial schemes were violently ojjposed; but his 
iiolicy prevailed, and the credit of the government was soon firmly 
established. 

The proposition to assume the debts of the States had been coupled 
with another to fix the seat of government. After much discussion it was 



•AQQ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

agreed to establish the capital for ten years at Philadelphia, and aicerward 
at some suitable locality on the Potomac. The next important measure 
was the organization of the territory south-west of the Ohio. In the 
autumn of 1790 a war broke out with the ]\Iiami Indians. Fort Wash- 
ington, on the present ^ite of Cincinnati, had been established as the 
capital of the North-western Territory ; and General St. Clair had re= 
ceived the appointment as governor. The Indians had fairly relinquished 
their rights to the surrounding country; but other trilies came forward with 
pretended claims, and went to war to recover their lost possessions. At 
the close of September, General Hannai-, with fourteen hundred troops, 
set out from Fort Washington to chastise the hostile Miamis. After de- 
stroying several villages and wasting the country as far as the Maumee, 
he divided his army into detachments. Cdlonel Hardin, wlio connnandcd 
the Kentucky volunteers, was ambuscaded and his forces routed at a vil- 
lage eleven miles from Fort Wayne; and on the 21st of October the 
main division was defeated with srcat loss at the ]\Iaumee Ford. Gen- 
eral Harmar was obliged to abandon the Indian country and retreat to 
Fort Washington. 

In the beginning of 1791 an act was passed by Congress establish- 
ing THE Bank of the United States. The measure originated with 
the secretary of the treasury, and was violently opposed by Jetferson and 
the anti-federal party. About the same time Vermont, which had been 
an independent territory since 1777, adopted the Constitution, and on the 
18th of February was admitted into the Union as the fourteenth State. 
The claim of New York to the jurisdiction of the province had been pur- 
chased, two years previously, for thirty thousand dollars. The first census 
of the United States, completed for the year 1790, showed that the popu- 
lation of tlie country had increased to three million nine hundred and 
twenty-nine thousand souls. 

After tlie defeat of Harmar the government adopted more vigorous 
measures for the repression of Indian hostilities. On the 6th of Septem- 
ber, 1791, General St. Clair, with an army of two thousand men, set out 
from Fort Washington to break the power of the Miami confederacy. 
On the night of November 3d he reached a point nearly a hundred mile? 
nortli of Fort Washington, and encamped on one of the upper tribu- 
taries of the Wabash, in what is now the south-west angle of Mercer 
county, Ohio. On the following morning at sunrise his camp was sud- 
denly assailed by more than two thousand warriors, led by Little Turtle 
and several American renegades who had joined the Indians. After a 
terrible battle of three hours' duration, St. Clair was completely defeated, 
with a loss of fully half his men. The fugitive militia retreated pre- 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 367 

cipitately to Fort AVashington, where they arrived four days after the 
battle. The news of the disaster spread gloom and sorrow throughout 
the land. AVhen the tidings reached Philadelphia the government 
was for a while in consternation. For once the benignant spirit of 
Washington gave way to wrath. "Here," said he in a tempest of 
indignation, — " here, in this very room, I took leave of General St. 
(_'lair. I wished him success and honor. I said to him, ' You have 
careful instructions from the secretary of war, and I myself will add 
one word — heirare of a surprise. You know how the Indians tight us. 
Beware of a surprise!' He went off with that, my last warning, 
ringing in his ears. And yet he has suffered that army to be cut to 
pieces, hacked, butchered, tomahawked by a surprise, — the very thing 
I guarded him against ! How can he answer to his country ? The 
blood of the slain is upon him, — the curse of widows and orphans!" 
Mr. Lear, the secretary, in whose presence this storm of wrath burst 
forth, sat speechless. Presently Washington grew silent. " What I 
have uttered must not go beyond this room," said he in a manner of 
great seriousness. Another pause of several minutes ensued, and then 
he continued in a low and solemn tone : " I looked at the despatches 
hastily and did not note all the particulars. General St. Clair shall 
have justice. I will receive him without displeasure, — he .s-haU. have 
full justice." Notwithstanding his exculpation by a committee of Con- 
gress, poor St. Clair, overwhelmed with censures and reproaches, 
resigned his command and was superseded by General Wayne, Avhom 
the people had named ]\Iad Anthony. 

The population of the Territory of Kentucky had now reached 
seventy-three thousand. Only seventeen years before, Daniel Boone, 
the hardy hunter of Xorth Carolina, had settled with his companions 
at Boonesborough. Harrodsbnrg and Lexington were founded about 
the same time. During the Revolution the pioneers were constantly 
beset by the savages. After the expedition of General Clarke, in 
1779, the frontier was more secure; and in the years following the 
treaty thousands of immigrants came annually. In the mean time, 
Virginia had relinquished her claim to the territory; and on the 1st 
of June, 1792, Kentucky was admitted into the Union. At the presi- 
dential election, held in the autumn of the same year, Washington was 
again unanimously chosen; as Vice-President, John Adams was also 
re-elected. 

During AVashington's second administration the country was 
greatly troubled in its relations with foreign governments. Europe 
was in an uproar. The French Revolution of 1789 was still running 



368 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

its dreadful course. After three years of unparalleled excesses, the Ja- 
cobins of France had beheaded the king and abolished the monarchy. 
Citizen Genet was sent by the new French republic as minister to the 
United States. On his arrival at Charleston, and on his way to Phil- 
adelphia, he was greeted with unbounded enthusiasm. Taking advan- 
tage of his popularity, the ambassador began to abuse his authority, 
fitted out privateers to prey on the commerce of Great Britain, planned 
expeditions against Louisiana, and, although the President had already 
issued a proclamation of neutrality, demanded an alliance with the 
government. Washington and the caljinet tirmly refused; and the au- 
dacious minister threatened to appeal to the pjeojile. In this outrageous 
conduct he was sustained and encouraged liy the anti-Federal party, 
and for a while the government was endangered. But Washington 
stood unmoved, declared the course of the French minister an insult 
to the sovereignty of the United States, and demanded his recall. The 
republican authorities of France heeded the demand, and Genet was 
superseded by M. Fouchet. 

The President was also much embarrassed by dissensions in his cab- 
inet. From the beginning of his first official term the secretaries of 
state and the treasury had maintained towards each other an attitude 
of constant hostility. They had gradually become the heads of rival 
parties in the government. Hamilton's financial measures were at- 
tacked with vehement animosity by Jefferson ; and the policy of tlie 
latter in his relations and duties as secretary of foreign aiiairs was the 
subject of much bitter criticism from the former's scathing pen. The 
breach between the rivals grew wider and wider. Washington's influ- 
ence was barely sufficient to prevent the breaking njj of his cabinet. 
Sd great were the abilities and so valuable the experience of the two 
secretaries that the services of neither could be spared without serious 
detriment to the government. Both officers were patriots, and both 
had insisted on Washington's reelection to the Presidency. After that 
event, however, Jefferson, in January of 1794, resigned his office and 
retired to private life at Monticello. A year later Hamilton also I'e- 
tired from the cabinet and was succeeded by Oliver Wolcott of Con- 
necticut. 

During the summer and autumn of 1794 the countiy was much 
disturbed by a difficulty in Western Pennsylvania known as the whisky 
insurrection. Hoping to improve the revenues of the government. Con- 
gress had, three years previously, imposed a tax on all ardent spirits dis- 
tilled in the United States. While Genet was at Philadelphia, he and 
his partisans incited the people of the distilling regions to resist the tax- 



H',l,S7/i.V(?r0iV',S- ADiMlXJSTBATION. 309 

collectoi's. The disaffected rose in arms. Washington issued two proc- 
lamations, warning the insurgents to disperse; but instead of obeying, 
they fired upon and captured the officers of the government. The Presi- 
dent then ordered General Henry Lee to enter the rebellious district with 
a sufficient force to restore order and enforce the law. When the troops 
reached the scene of the disturbance, the rioters had already scattered. 
The insurrection was a political rather than a social outbreak : the anti- 
Federalists were in a majority in the distilling region, and the whisky-tax 
was a measure of the Federal party. 

Meanwhile, General Wayne had broken the Miami confederacy. 
In the fall of 1793 he entered the Indian country with a force of three 
thousand men. Reaching the scene of St. Clair's defeat, he built a 
stockade named Fort Recovery, and then pressed on to the junction of 
the Au Glaize and the Maumee, in Williams county, Ohio. Here he 
built and garrisoned Fort Defiance. Descending the Maumee to the 
rapids, he sent proposals of peace to the Indians, who were in council but 
a few miles distant. Little Turtle, more wise than the other chiefs, 
would have made a treaty ; but the majority W'ere for battle. On the 
20th of August Wayne marched against the savages, overtook them 
where the present town of Waynesfield stands, and routed them with ter- 
rible losses. The relentless general then compelled the humbled chief- 
tains to purchase peace by ceding to the United States all the territory 
east of a line drawn from Fort Recovery to the mouth of the Great 
Miami River. This was the last service of General Wayne. Re- 
maining for a while in the Indian country, he embarked on Lake 
Erie to return to Philadelphia. In December of 1796 he died on 
board the vessel, and was buried at Presque Isle. 

The conduct of Great Britain toward the United States became as 
arrogant as that of France was impudent. In November of 1793 George 
III. issued secret instructions to British privateers to seize all neutral 
vessels that might be found trading in the French West Indies. The 
United States had no notification of this high-handed measure; and 
American commerce to the value of many millions of dollars was swept 
from the sea by a process differing in nothing from highway robbery. 
But for the temperate spirit of the government the country Avould have 
been at once plunged into war. Prudence prevailed over passion ; and 
in May of 1794 Chief-Justice Jay was sent as envoy extraordinary to 
demand redress of the British government. Contrary to expectation, 
his mission w'as successful ; and in the following November an honor- 
able treaty was concluded. The terms of settlement, however, wci-e 
exceedingly distasteful to the partisans of France in America, and they 



370 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

determined to prevent its ratification. Every argnment rxnd motive 
which ingenuity or prejudice couhl supply was eagerly paraded l>efore 
the people to excite their discontent. Public meetings were held and 
excited orators harangued the multitudes. In New York a copv of 
the treaty was burned before the governor's mansion. In Philadel- 
]>hia there was a similar proceeding ; and the whole country was in 
an uproar. "Washington, however, believing the treaty to be just in 
its main provisions, and earnestly desiring that war might be avoided, 
favored ratification. The majority in the Senate remained unmoved, 
and finally in the latter part of June, 1795, the terms of settlement 
were duly ratified, and signed hy the President. It was specified in 
the treaty that Great Britain should make ample reparation for the 
injuries done by her privateers, and surrender to the United States 
certain Western posts which until now had been held by English gar- 
risons. Thus was the threatened war averted. 

In October of 1795 the boundary between the United States and 
Louisiana was settled by a treaty with Spain. The latter country at the 
same time guaranteed to the Americans the free navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi. Less honorable was the treaty made with the kingdom of 
Algiers. For a long time Algerine pirates had infested the Mediter- 
ranean, preying upon the commerce of civilized nations ; and those 
nations, in order to purchase exemption from such ravages, had adojjted 
the ruinous policy of paying the dey of Algiers an annual tribute. In 
consideration of the tribute the dey agreed that his pirate ships should 
confine themselves to the Mediterranean, and should not attack the vessels 
of such nations as made the jiayment. Now, however, with the purpose 
of injuring France, Great Britain winked at an agreement -with the dey 
by which the Algerine sea-robbers were turned loose on the Atlantic. 
By their depredations American commerce suffered greatly ; and the 
government of the United States was obliged to })urchasc safety by 
paying the shameful tribute. 

In the summer of 1796, Tennessee, the third new State, was 
organized and admitted into the Union. Six years previously Nortli 
Carolina had surrendered her claims to the territory, which at that time 
contained a population of thirty-five thousand ; and within five years the 
number was more than doubled. The first inhabitants of Tennessee were 
of that hardy race of pioneers to whom the perils of the wilderness are as 
nothing provided the wilderness is free. By the addition of the two 
States south-west of the Ohio more than eighty-three thousand square 
miles of territory were brought under the dominion of civilization. 

Nothing in history is morfe surprising than the ascendency which 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 371 

Washington, unto the end of his official career, continued to exercise 
over the minds of his countrymen. In the House of Representatives, 
during the last two sessions, there had been a clear majority against 
him and his policy ; and yet the House continued its support of his 
measures. Even the provisions necessary to carry into effect the hated 
treaty with Great Britain were made by that body, though the vote 
was close. So powerful were the President's views in determining 
the actions of the people that Jefferson, writing to IMonnjc at Paris, 
said : " Congress has adjourned. You will sec by their proceedings 
the truth of what I always told you, namely, tliat one man outweighs 
them all in influence over the people, wlio support his judgment against 
their own and that of their representatives. Republicanism resigns the 
vessel to its pilot." 

Washington was solicited to become a candidate for a third elec- 
tion to the presidency ; but he would not. His resolution had already 
been made to end his public career. With the Father of his Country 
the evening of life drew on, and rest was necessary. Accordingly, in 
September of 1796, he issued to the people of the United States his 
Farewell Address — a document crowded with precepts of political 
wisdom, prudent counsels, and chastened patriotism.^ As soon as tlie 
President's determination was made known the political parties mar- 
shaled their forces and ]nit forward their champions, John Adams ap- 
pearing as the candidate of the Federal, and Thomas Jefferson of the 
anti-Federal party. Antagonism to the Constitution, which had thus 
far been tlie chief question between the parties, now gave place to 
another issue — whether it was the true policy of the United States to 
enter into intimate relations with the republic of France. The anti- 
Federalists said, Yes .' that all republics have a common end, and that 
Great Britain was the enemy of them all. The Federalists said. No ! 
that the American republic must mark out an independent course 
among the nations, and avoid all foreign alliances. On that issue Mr. 
Adams was elected, but Mr. Jefferson, having the next highest num- 
ber of votes, became Vice-President ; for according to the old provis- 
ion of the Constitution, the person who stood second on the list was 
declared the second officer in the government. 

* See Appendix G 



372 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 
ADAMS'S ADMINISTRA TIOX, 1707-lSOl. 



JOHN ADAMS, second President of the United States, was born ia 
the town of Braintree, Massachusetts, October 19th, 1735. He was a 
great-grandson of that Henry Adams wlio, emigrating from Great Brit- 
ain iu 1640, founded in America a family made famous l)y many illus- 
trious names. Eiglit 
sons of the elder 
Adams settled around 
Massachusetts Bay, 
the grandfather of the 
President in that part 
of Braintree after- 
wards called Quincy. 
The father of John 
Adams was a Puritan 
deacon, a selectman 
of the town, a farmer 
of small means, and a 
shoemaker. The son 
received a classical ed- 
ucation, being gradu- 
ated at the age of 
twenty from Harvard 
College. For a while 
he taught school, but 
finding that vocation 
to be, as he expressed 
it, a school of affiiriioii, he turned his attention to the study of law. In 
this profes.sion he soon became eminent, removed to Boston, engaged 
^vith great zeal in the controversy A\ith the mother country, and was 
<iuickly recognized as an able leader of jniblic opinion. From this 
time forth his services were in constant demand both in his native 
State and in the several colonial Congresses. He was a member of 
the celebrated committee appointed to draft tlie Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and in the debates on that instrument was its chief defender. 




.H»HN ADAM.s 



ADAMS'S ADMISISTEATIOX 373 

During the last years of the Revohition he served his eountry as 
ambassador to France, Holland, and Great Britain, being the first 
minister to that country after the recognition of American independ- 
ence. From this important station he returned in 1788, and was soon 
afterwards elected Vice-Presiilent under the new frame of government. 
After serving in this office for eight years, he was chosen as the suc- 
cessor of Washington. 

On the 4th of March, 1797, President Adams was inaugurated. 
From the beginning his administration was embarrassed by a power- 
fid and well-organized opposition. Adet, the French minister, made 
inflammatory appeals to the people, and urged the government to 
conclmle a league with France against Great Britain. When the 
President and Congress stooil firmly on the doctrine of neutrality, 
the French Directory grew insolent, and began to deinand an alli- 
ance. The treaty which Mr. Jay had concluded with England was 
especially complained of by the partisans of France. On the 10th 
of March the Directory issued instructions to French men-of-war to 
assail the commerce of the United States. Soon afterward Mr. Pinck- 
ney, the American minister, was ordered to leave the territory of 
France. 

These proceedings were equivalent to a declaration of war. The 
President convened Congress in extraordinary session, and measure.^ 
were devised for repelling the aggressions of the French. Elbridg^ 
Gerry and John Marshall were directed to join Mr. Pinckney in a 
final eifort for a peaceable adjustment of the difficulties. But the 
effijrt was fruitless. The Directory of France refused to receive the 
ambassadors except upon condition tliat they woald pledge the pay- 
ment into the French treasury of a quarter of a million of dollars. 
Pinckney answered with the declaration that the United States had 
inillions for defence, but not a cent for tribute. The envoys were then 
ordered to leave the country ; but Gerry, who was an anti-Federalist, 
was permitted to remain. These events occupied the summer and fall 
of 1797. 

In the beginning of the next year an act was passed by Con- 
gress completing the organization of the army. Washington was called 
from the retirement of his old age and appointed commander-in-chief. 
Hamilton was chosen first major-general. A navy of six frigates, be- 
sides privateers, had been provided for at the session af the previous 
year ; and a national loan had been authorized. The patriotism of 
the people was thoroughly aroused ; the treaties with France were de- 
clared void, and vigorous preparations were made for the impending 



374 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

war. The American frigates put to sea, and in the summer and fall 
of 1799 did good service for the commerce of the country. Commo- 
dore Truxtun, in the ship ConsteUntion, won distinguished honors. On 
the 9th of February, while cruising in the West Indies, he attacked 
the Inmrgent, a French man-of-war carrying forty guns and more than 
four hundred seamen. A desperate engagement ensued ; and Truxtun, 
though inferior in cannons and men, gained a comjjlete victory. A 
year later he overtook another frigate, called the You/vaucc, and after 
a five hours' battle in tiic niglit would have captured his antagonist 
but for a stin'm and tlie darkness. These events added greatly to the 
renown of tiie American flag. 

The organization of the provisional army was soon completed. 
The commander-in-chief repaired to Philadelphia and remained five 
weeks with Generals Hamilton and Pinckney, superintending the 
work. Such measures were taken as were deemed adequate to the 
defence of the nation, and then Washington retired to Mount Ver- 
non, leaving the greater part of the responsibility to be borne by 
Hamilton. The news of these warlike pi-oceedings was soon carried 
to France, and tlie shrewd Talleyrand, minister of foreign affairs for 
the Frencii rcpul)lic, seeing that his dismissal of Mr. Monroe and 
General Pinckney had given mortal offence to the American j)e<)ple, 
managed to signify to Vans Murray, ambassador of the United States 
to Holland, that if President Adams would send another minister to 
Paris he would be cordially received. ISIurray immediately transmit- 
ted this hint to the President, who caught eagerly at this opportunity 
to extricate the country from apprehended war. On the 18th of Feb- 
ruary he transmitted a message to the Senate nominating Mr. Murray 
■liimself as minister plenipotentiary to the French republic. The nom- 
ination was confirmed, and the ambassador was authorized to proceed at 
once to France. It was also agreed by the Senate that two other ]>er- 
sons should be added to tlie embassy; and Oliver Ellsworth and Will- 
iam U. Davie were accordinglv commissioned to proceed to Amsterdam 
and join Murray in his important mission to the French capital. 

^leanwhile, Napoleon IJonaparte had overthrown the Directory 
of France and made himself first consul of the repul)lic. More wise 
and politic than his associates in the government, he immediately 
sought peace witli the the United States. For he saw clearly enough 
that the impending war would, if prosecuted, inevitably result in an 
alliance between America and England — a thing most unfavorable to 
the interests of France. He was also confident that peaceful overtures 
on his part would l)e met with favor. The three American ambassa- 



ADAMS S ADMINISTRATION. 875 

dors — Murray, Ellsworth and Davie — reached I'aris, after many delays, 
in the beginning of March, 1800. Negotiations were at once opened, 
and, in the following September, were happily terminated with a treaty 
of peace. In all his relations with the United States Naj^oleou acted the 
mrt of a consistent and honorable ruler. 

Before the war-cloud was scattered America was called to mourn 
Ms loss of Washington. On the 14th of December, 1799, after an illness 
of only a day, the venerated chieftain passed from among the living. All 
hearts were touched with sorrow. The people put on the garb of mourn- 
ing. Congress went in funeral procession to the German Lutheran church, 
where General Henry Lee, the personal friend of AVashington, delivered 
a touching and eloquent oration. Throughout the civilized world the 
memory of the great dead was honored with appropriate ceremonies. To 
the legions of France the event was announced by Bonaparte, who paid 
a beautiful tribute to the virtues of " the warrior, the legislator and the 
citizen witiiout reproach." As the body of Washington was laid in the 
.sepulchre, the voice of partisan malignity that had not hesitated to assail 
liis name was hushed into everlasting silence ; and the world with un- 
covered head agreed with Lord Byron in declaring the illustrious dead to 
have been among warriors, statesmen and patriots 

" The first, the last, the best. 

The Cincinnatus of the West." 

The administration of Adams and the eighteenth century drew to a 
-close together. In spite of domestic dissensions and foreign alarms, the 
new republic was growing strong and influential. The census of 1800 
showed that the po[)ulation of the country, including the black men, had 
increased to over five millions. The seventy-five post-offices reported by 
the census of 1790 had been multiplied to nine hundred and three; the 
exports of the United States had grown from twenty millions to nearly 
.seventy-one millions of dollars. The permanency of the Constitution as 
the supreme law of the land was now cheerfully recognized. In Decem- 
ber of 1800 Congress for the first time assemljled in Washington city, the 
new capital of the nation. Virginia and Maryland had ceded to the 
United States the District of Columbia, a tract ten miles square lying on 
both sides of the Potomac ; but the part given by Virginia was afterward 
re-ceded to that State. The city which was designed as the seat of govern- 
ment was laid out in 1792 ; and in 1800 the population numbered be- 
tween eight and nine thousand. 

With prudent management and unanimity the Federal party might 
have retained control of the government. But there were dissensions in 



376 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Adanis's cabinet. iVIucli of the recent legislation of Congress had 
been unwise and unpopular. The alien law, by which the President was 
authorized to send out of the country any foreigners whose presence 
should be considered prejudicial to the interests of the United States, was 
specially odious. Tlie sedition law, which punished with fine and im- 
prisonment the freedom of speech and of the press when directed abusively 
against the government, was denounced by the opposition as an act of 
tyranny. Partisan excitement ran high. Mr. Adams and Mr. Charles 
C. Pinckney were put forward as the candidates of the Federalists, and 
Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr of the Rej)ublicans or Democrats. The 
latter were trium])hant. In the electoral college Jefferson and Burr each 
received seventy-three votes ; Adams, sixty-five ; and Pinckney, sixty-four. 
In order to decide between the Democratic candidates, the election was re- 
ferred to the House of Representatives. After thirty-five ballotings, the 
choice fell on Jefferson ; and Burr, who was now second on the list, was 
declared Vice-President. After controlling the government for twelve 
years, the Federal party passed from power, never to be restored. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATION, lSOl-1809. 

rPHOMAS JEFFERSON was liorn in the county of Albemarle,. 
J- Virginia, on the "id of April, 1743. Of his ancestry, history has 
preserved no record otlier than the name of his father. Colonel Peter 
Jefferson, a man noted for native abilities and force of character. The 
son found excellent advantages of early training in tlie private school 
of an exiled Scottish clergyman, and afterwards completed his educa- 
tion at William and Mary College. He then entered upon the study 
of law, and soon rose to distinction. Like his predecessor in the pres- 
idential office, he became in his early manhood deeply absorbed in the 
controversy with the mother country, and by his radical views in the- 
House of Burgesses contributed much to fix forever the sentiments of 
that body against the arbitrary measures of tlie English ministry. 

From the councils of his native State Jefferson was soon called 
to the councils of the nation. His coming was anxiously awaited in 
the famous Congress of 1776; for his fame as a thinker and a demo- 



JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRA TION. 



sn 



orat had preceded him. To his pen and brain the almost exclusive 
authorship of the great Declaration must be awarded. During the 
struggles of the Revolution he was among the most distinguished and 
uncompromising of the patriot leaders. After the war was over, he 
was sent abroad with 
Adams and Franklin 
to negotiate treaties 
of amity and com- 
merce with the Eu- 
ropean nations, and 
was then appointed 
minister plenipoten- 
tiary o f t he n c \v 
Republic to France. 
From this high trust 
he was recalled to 
become secretary of 
state under Wash- 
ington; in 1796 was 
elected Vice - Presi - 
dent, and in 1800 
President of the 
United States. The 
American decimal 
system of coinage, 
the statute for relig- 
ious freedom, the Declaration of Independence, the University of 
Virginia, and the presidency of the Union are the immutable foun- 
dations of his fame. 

At the beginning of his administration Mr. Jefferson transferred 
the chief offices of the government to members of the Democratic 
party. This policy had in some measure been adopted by his prede- 
cessor; but the principle was now made universal. Such action was 
justified by the adherents of the President on the ground that the 
affairs of a rejiublic will be best administered when the officers bold 
the same political sentiments. One of the first acts of Congress was 
to abolish the system of internal revenues. The unpopular laws against 
foreigners and the freedom of the press were also repealed. But the 
territorial legislation of Jefferson's first term was most important of 
all. 

In the year 1800 a line was drawn through the North-west 




THOMAS .lEFFERSON. 



;}78 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Territory from the mouth of the Great Miami River to Fort Recovery, 
and thence to Canada. Two years afterward the country east of tliis 
line was erected into the State of Ohio and admitted into the Union. 
The portion west of the line, embracing the present States of Indi- 
ana, Illinois, AVis(«nsin and a part of Michigan, was organized under 
the name of the Indiana Tkrritory. Vincennes was the capital ; 
and General William Henry Harrison received the appointment of 
govei'nor. About the same time the organization of the Mississippi 
Tereitoey, extending from the western limits of Georgia to the great 
river, was completed. Thus another grand and fertile district of a 
hundred thousand square miles was reclaimed from barbarism. 

More important still was the purchase of Louisiana. In 1800 
Napoleon had compelled Spain to make a secret cession of this vast 
territory to France. The First Consul then prepared to send an army 
to New Orleans for the purpose of establishing his authority. But 
the government of the United States remonstrated against such a pro- 
ceeding ; France was threatened with multiplied wars at home ; and 
Bonaparte, seeing the difficulty of maintaining a colonial empire at so 
great a distance, authorized his minister to dispose of Louisiana by 
sale. The President appointed Mr. Livingston and James Monroe 
to negotiate the purchase. On the 30th of April, 1803, the terms of 
transfer were agreed on by the agents of the two nations ; and for the 
sum of eleven million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, Louisi- 
ana M'as ceded to the United States.* In another convention, which 
was signed on the same day, it was agreed that the government of 
the United States should assume the payment of certain debts due 
from France to American citizens ; but the sum thus assumed should 
not, inclusive of interest, exceed three million seven hundred and fitly 
thousand dollars. Thus did the vast domain west of the Mississippi, 
embracing an area of more thau a million scpiare miles, pass under 
the dominion of the United States. 

Four nations — France, the United States, Great Britain, and 
Spain — were concerned in determining the boundaries of the ceded 
territory. In regard to tiie eastern limit, all were agreed that it 
should be the Mississippi from its source to the thirty-first parallel 
<if latitude. On the south-east the boundary claimed by the United 
States, Great Britain, and France, was the thirty-first parallel from 
the Mississippi to the Appalachicola, and down that river to the Gulf 

* Bonaparte accepted in payment six per cent, bonds of tlie United States, payable 
fifteen years after date. He also agreed not to sell the bonds at suoli a price as wonld 
degrade tlie credit of the American government. 



JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 379 

From this line, however, Spain dissented, claiming the Iberville and 
Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain as the true limit between Louisi- 
ana and her possessions in West Florida ; but she was obliged, after 
fruitlessly protesting, to yield to the decision of her rivals. On the 
south, by the consent of all, the boundary was the Gulf of Mexico as 
far west as the mouth of the Sabine. The south-western limit was 
established along the last named river as far as the thirty-first paral- 
lel ; thence due north to lied River; up that stream to the one-hun- 
dredth meridian from Greenwich ; thence north again to the Arkan- 
sas ; thence with that river to the mountains ; and thence north with 
the mountain chain to the forty-second parallel of latitude. Thus far 
nil four of the nations were agreed. But the United States, Great 
Britain, and France — again coinciding — claimed the extension of the 
boundary along the forty-second parallel to the Pacific Ocean ; and to 
this extension Spain, for several years, refused her assent; but in the 
treaty of 1819 her objections were formally withdrawn. In fixing the 
northern boundary only the LTnited States and Great Britain were 
concerned; and the forty-ninth jjarallel from the Lake of the Woods 
to the Pacific was established as the international line.* 

The purchase of Louisiana was the greatest event of Jefferson's 
administration. Out of the southern portion of the new acquisition 
the Territory of Orleans was organized, with the same limits as 
the present State of Louisiana ; the re.st of the vast tract continued 
to be called the Territory of LouifsiANA. The possession of the 
Mississippi was no longer a matter of dispute. Very justly did Mr. 
Livingston say to the French minister as they arose from signing the 
treaty: "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our 
whole lives." 

Two years previous to these events John Marshall had been 
nominated and confirmed as chief-justice of the LTnited States. His 
appointment marks an epoch in the history of the country. In the 
colonial times the English constitution and common law had pre- 

*See Map VII. The discussion of the boundaries of Louisiana is thus fully given 
Because of the many statements, needlessly contradictory, which have been made on 
;he subject. Between the years 1803 and 1819 there was some ground for controversy, 
but since the latter date none whatever— except as to the northern line. For all the 
facts tending to elucidate the subject, see American State Papers; topics: Treaty of 
Paris, 1763; Definitive Treaty between Great Britain and the United States, 1783; Text 
of the Louisiana Cession, 1803; Boundary Conventions between the United States and 
Great Britain, 1818 and 1846; Treaty of VVasbington, 1819. See also Walker's Stath- 
timl Atlas of the United States; subject: Areas and Political Divisions, pp. 2 and 3; and 
the American Cyclopcedia ; article : Louisiana. 



380 



HlSTOliy OF THE UNITED STATES. 



vailed in America, and judicial decisions were based exclusively on 
precedents established in English courts. When, in 1789, the new 
republic was organized, it became necessary to modify to a certain 
extent tlie princijtles of jurisprudence and to adapt them to the al- 

tei'cd theory of gov- 
ernment. In some 
measure this great 
work was undertak- 
en by Chief-Justice 
Jay ; but he was a 
great statesman ra- 
ther than a great 
judge. It remained 
for Chief- Justice 
Marsliall to estab- 
iisji (in a tirm and 
enduring basis the 
noble structure of 
American law. For 
tliirty-five years he 
remained in his high 
office, becjueathing 
to after times a great 
Tuindjer of valuable 




CHIEF-JUSTICE MARSHALL. 



decisions, in which 



the principles of the 
jurisprudence of the United States are set firtli witli unvarying clear- 



ness and invincil)le losic. 



The Mediterranean pirates still annoyed American merchantmen. 
All of the Barbary States — as the Mocirisli kingdoms of Xdrthern Af- 
rica are called — had adopted the plan of extorting annual tributes 
from the European nations. The emperors of Morocco, Algiers and 
Tripoli became especially arrogant. In 1803 the government of the 
United States despatched Commodore Preble to the Mediterranean to 
protect American commerce and punish the hostile powers. The ar- 
mament proceeded first against Morocco ; but the frigate Philadelphia, 
commanded by Captain Bainbridge, was sent directly to Tripoli. When 
Hearing his destination, Bainbridge gave chase to a pirate which fled 
for safety to the batteries of the harbor. The Philadelphia, in close 
pursuit, ran upon a reef of rocks near the shore, became unmanage- 
able, and was captured by the Tripolitans. The crew and officers 



JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 381 

were taken ; tlio latter were treated with some respect, but the former 
were enskived. The emperor Yusef and his barbarous subjects were 
greatly elated at their unexpected success. 

In the following February Captain Decatur recaptured the Phil- 
adelphia in a marvelous manner. Sailing trom Sicily in a small ves- 
?el called the Intrepid, he came at nightfall in sight of the harbor of 
Tripoli, where the Philadelphia was moored. The Intrepid, being a 
Moorish ship which the American fleet had captured, was either un- 
seen or unsuspected by the Tripolitans. As darkness settled on the 
sea, Decatur steered his course into the harbor, slijiped alongside of 
the Philadelphia, lashed the two ships together, sprang on deck with 
his daring crew of only seventy-four men, and killed or drove over- 
board every Moor on the vessel. In a moment the frigate was fired, 
for it Avas the purpose to destroy her ; then Decatur and his men, es- 
caping from the flames, returned to the Intrepid and sailed out of the 
harbor amid a storm of balls from the Tripolitan batteries. Not a 
man of Decatur's gallant band was lost, and only four were wounded. 

In the last of July, 1804, Commodore Preble arrived with his 
fleet at Tripoli and began a blockade and .siege which lasted till the 
following spring. The town was frequently bombarded, and several 
Moorish vessels were destroyed ; but not even the pounding of Amer- 
ican cannon-balls was sufficient to bring Yusef to terms. In the mean- 
time, however, it was ascertained that the services of Hamct, Yusef 's 
elder brother, the deposed sovereign of Tripoli, might be secured to 
aid in reducing the barbarians to submission. Hamet was at this time 
in Upper Egypt, commanding an army of Mamelukes in a war against 
the Turks. To him General William Eaton, the American consul at 
Tunis, was despatched with proposals of an alliance against the usurp- 
ing Yusef. Hamet eagerly accepted the overture, and furnished Gen- 
eral Eaton with a fine body of Arab cavalry and seventy Greek soldiers. 
With this force the American commander set out from Alexandria on 
the 5th of March, 1805. He traversed the Desert of Barca for a thou- 
sand miles, and on the 25th of April I'cached Derne, one of Yu.sef 's 
eastern sea-ports. Yusef himself was already approaching with an 
army; and General Eaton found it necessary to storm the town. A 
division of the American fleet arrived in the harbor at the fortunate 
moment and aided in the work. The place was gallantly carried. 
The assaulting column was made up of Arab cavalry, Greek infantry, 
Tripolitan rebels, and American sailors serving on land! The Stars 
and Stripes never before or since waved over so motley an assem- 
blage ! Yusef, alarmed at the dangers whicli menaced him by sea 



382 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and land, made hasty overtures for peace. His offers were accepted by Mr. 
Lear, the American consul-general for the Barbary States ; and a treaty 
was concluded on the 4th of June, 1805.* For several years thereafter 
the flag of the United States was res2)ected in the Mediterranean. 

In the summer of 1804 the country was shocked by the intelligence 
that Vice-President Burr had killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. As 
the first terra of Mr. Jefferson drew to a close, Burr foresaw that the 
President would be renominated, and that he himself would not be re- 
nominated. Still, he had his eye on the presidency, and was determined 
not to be baffled. He therefore, while holding the office of Vice-Presi- 
dent, became a candidate for governor of Xew York. From that posi- 
tion he \\ould pass to the presidency at the close of Jefferson's second 
term. But Hamilton's powerful influence in New York prevented Burr's 
election ; and his presidential ambition received a stunning blow. From 
that day he determined to kill the man whom he pretended to regard as 
the destroyer of his hopes. He accoi'dingly sought a quarrel with Hamil- 
ton ; challenged him ; met him at Weehawken, opposite New York, on 
the morning of the 11th of July, and deliberately murdered him; for 
Hamilton had tried to avoid the challenge, and when face to face with 
his antagonist refused to fire. Thus under the savage and abominable 
custom of dueling the brightest intellect in America was put out in 
arkness. 

In the autunm of 1804 Jefferson was re-elected President. For 
Vice-President George Clinton of New York was chosen in place of 
Burr. In the following year that part of the North-western Territory 
called Wayne county was organized under a separate territorial govern- 
ment with the name of Michigan. In the same spring, Captains Lewis 
and Clarke, acting under ordei-s of the President, set out from the falls 
of the Missouri River with a jiarty of thirty-five soldiers and luintei-s to 
cross the Rocky Mountains and explore Oregon. Not until November 
did they reach their destination. For two years, tlirough forests of gigantic 
pines, along the banks of unknown rivers and down to the shores of the 
Pacific, did they continue their explorations. After wandering among 
unheard-of tribes of barbarians, encountering grizzly bears more ferocious 
than Bengal tigers, escaping perils by forest and flood, and traversing a 
route of six thousand miles, the hardy adventurers, ^ith the loss of but 
one man, returned to civilization, bringing new ideas of the vast domains 
of the West. 

* It is a matter of astonishment that Lear agreed to pay Yusef sixty thousand dollar* 
for the liberation of American slaves : their liberation ought to have been compelled — 
and might have been if Lear had said so. 



^^4^1 



JEFFER.SON'S jt.mimiSTRATION. 383- 

After the death of Hamilton, Burr fled from popular indignatioa 
and souy;ht refuge in the South. At the opening of the next session of 
Congress he returned to the capital, and presided over the Senate until 
the expiration of his term of office. Then he delivered his valedictory, 
went to the West, and, after traveling through several States, took up his 
residence with an Irish exile named Harman Blannerhassett, who had 
laid out an estate and built a sj)lendid mansion on an island in the Ohio, 
just below the mouth of the jNIuskinguni. Here Burr made a mcked 
and treasonable scheme against the peace and happiness of tlie country. 
His plan was to raise a sufficient military force, invade Mexico, wrest that 
country from the Spaniards, detach the Western and Southern States from 
the Union, make himself dictator of a South-western empire, and perhap& 
subvert the government of the United States. For two years he labored 
to perfect his plans. But his purposes were suspected. In accordance 
with a proclamation of the President, the military preparations at Blan- 
nerhassett's Island were broken up; and in February of 1807 Burr him- 
self was arrested in Alabama and taken to Richmond to be tried on a 
charge of treason. Chief-Justice Marshall presided at the trial, and Burr 
conducted his own defence. The verdict was, " Not guilty, for want of 
sufficient proof." But his escape was so narrow that under an assumed 
name he fled from the country. Returning a few years afterward, he re- 
sumed the practice of law in Xew York, lived to extreme old age, and 
died alone in abject poverty. 

During Jefferson's second administration the country was' con- 
stantly agitated by the aggressions of the British navy on American com- 
merce. England and France were engaged in deadly and continuous war. 
In order to cripple the resources of their enemy, the British authorities 
struck blow after blow against the trade between France and foreign 
nations ; and Napoleon retaliated with equal energy and vindictiveness 
against the conuncrce of Great Britain. The measures adopted by the 
two powers took the form of blockade — that is, the surrounding of each 
other's ports with men-of-war to prevent the ingress and egress of neutral 
ships. By such means the commerce of the United States, which had 
grown vast and valuable while the European nations were fighting, was 
greatly injured and distressed. 

In IMay of 1 806 England declared the whole coast of France from 
Brest to the Elbe to be in a state of blockade. Neutral nations h;id no 
warning. Many American vessels, approaching the French ports, were 
seized and condemned as jirizes; all this, too, while the harbors of France 
were not actually, ])ut only declared to be, blockaded. In the following 
November Bonaparte issued a decree blockading the British isles. Agaia 



;i84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the unsuspecting merchantmen of the United States were subjected to 
seizure, this time by the cruisers of France. In January of the next 
year the government of Great Britain retaliated by an act prohibiting 
the French coasting-trade. Every one of these measures was in fla- 
grant violations of the laws of nations. The belligerent powers had 
no right to take such steps toward each other; as to neutral States, 
tlieir rights were utterly disregarded; and the nation that sutferud 
most was the United States. 

In addition to these causes of complaint an old crime against 
international law had, in the mean time, l)een revived liv the Euir- 
lish government, to the great distress of American commerce. At the 
outbreak of the Frencli and Indian War George II. had issued an edict 
forbidding the vessels of neutral nations to trade with the colonies of 
France or the provinces of any otiier country with which Great Brit- 
ain might be at war. The offences committed under the authority of 
this arbitrary decree, which was known as the Rule of 1756, had 
been greatly injurious to the commerce of the colonies, and during 
Washington's administration had occasioned many complaints and re- 
monstrances. But in June of 1801, in a treaty between Great Britain 
and Russia, the former government assented to such a modification of 
the Rule as rendered it comparatively harmless. The effect of this 
modification was exceedingly beneficial to neutral nations, especially 
to .Vmerica. Between the years 1803 and 1806 the foreign carrying- 
trade of tile United States was increased nearly fivefold, while that of 
England fell off in a nearly corresponding ratio. Vexed and morti- 
fied at this result, and caring little for justice if the supremacy of the 
British merchant-marine could be maintained, the ministry, in the 
summer of 1805, revived the old edict in full fi)rce, and impudently 
asserted that it was « part of the law of nations! The result, as had 
been clearly foreseen by the English lords of trade who contrived the 
measure, was that American merchantmen trading largely with the 
dependencies of France and Spain, were driven from the ocean, and 
the commerce of the Ignited States slirank suddenly into insignifi- 
cance. 

Finally Great Britain aggravated her injustice by a still more 
arrogant and unwarrantable procedure. The English theory of citi- 
zenship is, that whoever is born in England remains through life a 
subject of the British Empire. The privilege of an Englishman to 
expatriate himself — that is, the right to go abroad, to throw off his 
allegiance to the British crown, and to assume the obligations of citi- 
zenship in another nation — is absolutelv denied. Under this iron rule 
of " once an Englishman, alwavs an Englishman," the British cruisers 



JEFFERSON'S ADMIXISTRATIOX. 385 

were fr')iu time to time authorized to search Americau vessels and to 
take therefrom all persons suspected of being subjects of Great Brit- 
ain. One of the chief objects had in view in this iniquitous business 
\vas to prevent the emigration of the Irish to the United States. The 
impulsive sons of the Emerald Isle, hearing of the free institutions and 
boundless prospects of America, were flocking hither in great num- 
bers, and something must be done to stop the movement. George III. 
and his advisers therefore marshaled forth their despotic theory of cit- 
izenship and set it up like a death's-head at every jwrt of the British 
Isles. Inasmuch as every Irishman or Scotchman who ventured on 
board an American vessel would expose himself to tlie peril of seizure 
and impi-essment, it was, with good reason, believed that not many 
would take the fearful risk. And the apprehensions of the emigrants 
were well founded ; for all those who had the misfortune to be over- 
taken at sea were, without inquiry, impressed as marines in the Eng- 
lish navy. To crowd the decks of their men-of-war with unwilling 
recruits, torn from home and friends, was the end which the British 
king and ministry were willing to reach at whatever .sacrifice of na- 
tional honor. Finally to these general wrongs was added a special act 
of violence which kindled the indignation of the Americans to the 
highest pitch. 

On the 2'2d of June, 1807, a frigate, named the Chesapeake which 
liad just sailed out of the bay of the same name, was approached by a 
British man-of-war, called the Leopard. The frigate was hailed; Brit- 
ish officers came on board as friends, and tlicn, to the astonishment of 
Commodore Barron, wiio commanded the Chempeahc, made a demand 
to search the vessel for deserters. The demand was indignantly re- 
fused and the ship cleared for action. But before the guns could be 
gotten in readiness, the Leopard poured in several destructive broad- 
sides and compelled a surrender. Four men were taken from the 
captured ship, three of whom proved to be American citizens; the 
fourth, M-ho was an actual deserter, was tried by the British naval 
officers and hanged. The government of Great Britain disavowed 
the outrage of the Ijeopjard, and promised reparation ; but the prom- 
ise was never fulfilled. 

The President at once issued a proclamation forbidding British 
ships of war to enter the harbors of the United States. Still, there 
was no reparation ; and on the 21st of December Congress passed the 
celebrated Embargo Act. By its provisions all American vessels 
were detained in the ports of the United States. The object was, by 
cutting off commercial intercourse with France and Great Britain, to 
compel them to I'ecognize the rights of American neutrality. But the 



386 



HlSrORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



measure was of little avail ; aiul after fourteen months the embargo 
act was repealed.* ^Meanwhile, in November of 1808, the British 
government outdid all pi-evious proceedings by issuing an " order in 
council," prohibiting all trade with France and her allies. And Napo- 
leon, not to be outdone, issued his famous " Milan decree," forbidding 
all commerce with England and her colonies. Between these outra- 
geous acts of foreign nations and the American embargo, the com- 
merce of the United States was well-nigh crushed out of existence. 

AVhile the country was distracted with these troubles Robert Ful- 
ton was building thf. riitsT steamboat. This event exercised a vast 

influence on the fu- 
ture develojunent of 
the nation. It was 
of the first impor- 
tance to the people 
of the inland States 
that their great riv- 
ers should be enliv- 
ened with rapid and 
regular navigation. 
This, without the a])- 
plication of steam, 
was imjwssible; and 
this Fulton success- 
f u 1 1 y accomplished. 
Indeed, the steam- 
boat was the harbin- 
ger of a new era in 
civilization. Fulton 
was an Irishman by 
descent and a Penn- 
sylvaiiian liy birtli. His education was meagre and imjierfect. In 
his boyhood he became a painter of miniatures at Philadelphia. His 
A-iends sent him to Ix)ndon to receive instruction from Benjamin 
West; but his tastes led him to the useful rather than to the fine 
arts. From London he went to Paris, where he became acquainted 
with Chancellor Livingston ; and there he conceived the project of 
aj)plying steam to the purjH.ses of navigation. Returning to New 
York, he began the construction of a steamboat in East River. When 

*The embargo act was tlie subject of much ridicule. The opponents of the measure 
xpelling tlie word backward, called it the O^-nh mc act. 




l;oHEl!T FII.TON. 



JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 387 

the ungainly craft was completed and brou^^lit around to tlie Jersey 
.side of the city, Fulton invited his friends to go on board and enjoy 
a trip to Albany. It was the 2d of September, 1807. The incredu- 
lous crowds stood staring on the shore. The word Avas given, and the 
boat did not move. Fulton went below. Again the word was given, 
and this time the boat moved. On the next day the happy company 
reached Albany. For many years this first rude steamer, called the 
Clermont, plied the Hudson. The old methods of river navigation 
were revolutionized. 

But the inventive genius of Fulton was by no means satisfied 
with the great achievement. For years his thoughts had been busy 
with another project which was considered by himself of greater value 
and imjtortanee to the future interests of mankind than the steamboat. 
His object was to produce some kind of an engine, so destructive to 
ships as to bani.fh navcd n-arfare by making it /tossible for an>/ otw to 
destroy the most formidable ve.'i.'seh which could be constructed. Finally 
his plans were matured, and the result was the invention of that sub- 
marine bomb, called the Torpedo, which has played so important a 
part in the bay and river battles of modern times. This terrible ma- 
chine is as distinctly and certainly the fruit of Fulton's brain as is 
steam navigation itself; but the result has hardly met the expectations 
of the inventor. As early as 180-i, having completed the invention at 
Paris, he offered it successively to the governments of France, Hol- 
land, and Great Britain ; but neither nation would accept the patron- 
age of so dangerous an engine. In England a public demonstration 
of its destructive effects was given in the presence of British states- 
men and men of science.* On the 15th of October, in Walmer Koads, 
within sight of the residence of William Pitt, the Danish brig Doro- 
thea, which had been given by the government for that purpose, was 
blown to atoms on the first trial. But, although the success of the 
torpedo was manifest, the English ministry refused to accept the in- 
vention on the ground that Great Britain, already mistress of the seas, 
did not need torpedoes, and that their use by other nations would de- 
stroy her supremacy. Logic of habitual selfishness ! In 1807, and 
again in 1810, Fulton offered his invention to the United States, and 
in the latter year received an appropriation of five thousand dollars 
for further experiments. Such was the terror inspired by the torpedo 
that, although it was not very successfully used in the war that ensued,, 
the British cruisers were notably shy of the American coast, and many 
a sea-port town was saved from destruction. 

* Colonel Congreve, inventor of the "Congreve Kocket," was present on the occasion. 



388 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Jefferson's administration drew ti> a close. The territorial area 
of the United States had been vastly extended. Burr's wicked and 
dangerous conspiracy had come to naught. Pioneers were pouring 
into the valley of the Mississippi. Ex2>lorers had crossed the mount- 
ains of the great West. The woods by the river-shores resounded 
with the cry of steam. But the foreign relations of the United States 
were troubled and gloomy. There were forebodings of war. The 
President, following the example of Washington, declined a tliird 
election, and was succeeded in his liigh ofliice by James Madison of 
Virginia. For Vice-President George C'linton was re-elected. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION, AND WAR OF 1812. 

JAMES MADISON, fourth President of the United States, was born 
at King George, Virginia, on the 16th of March, 1751. He was 
educated first in a private school and afterwards at I'rinceton College, 
where he was graduated at the age of twenty. Devoting himself to 
the profession of the law, he found time for extensive reading and a 
profound study of morals, metaphysics, and jiolite literature. From 
these pursuits, so congenial to his disposition, his sterling patriotism 
called him to take an active part in the struggles of the Revolution. 
In the councils of his own State and afterwards iu the Continental 
Congress his influence was marked and powerful. But of all the pa- 
triot leaders Madison had the calmest and least aggressive spirit. Not 
by oratory and vehemence of })assion, biit by philosophy and cogent' 
argument, did he mould the opinicms of his fellow-men. It was he 
who, in 1786, secured the passage by the legislature of Virginia of 
the resolution, suggested by Washington, calling for a convention of 
the States at Annapolis — a work which resulted iu the formation of 
the Federal Constitution. Afterwards, with Hamilton and Jay, he 
defended that great instrument in the Federal id ; but with the new 
division of parties, his views underwent a change and he joined him- 
self with the Jeffersonian school of statesmen. For eight years he 
lield the office of secretary of state; and on the 4th of March, 1809. 
was inaugurated as Jefferson's successor in the presidency. He owed 
his election to the Democratic party, whose sympatliy with France 
and hostility to the policy of Great Britain were well known. Three 



MA DTSOWS ADMINISTRA TION. 



389 



days before the new administration came into power, the embargo act 
was i-epealed l)y Congress; but another measure was adopted instead, 
called the non-intercourse act. By its terms American merchantmen 
were allowed to go abroad, but were forbidden to trade with Great Brit- 
ain. Mr. Erskine, the 
British minister, now 
gave notice that by 
the 10th of .Tmie the 
"orders in council," 
so far as they affect- 
ed the United States, 
should be I'cpcaled. 
But tlie Britisli gov- 
ernment disavowed 
the act of its agent ; 
and the orders stood 
as before. 

In the following 
spring the emperor 
of the French issued 
a decree authoriz- 
ing the seizure of all 
American vessels 
that might approach 
the ports of France 
or other harbors held by his troops. But in November of the same 
year the hostile decree was I'eversed, and all restrictions on the c<un- 
merce of the United States were removed. If Great Britain had acted 
with equal liberality and justice, there would have been no further 
complaint. But that government, with peculiar obstinacy, adhered to 
its former measures, and sent ships of war to hover around the Amer- 
ican ports and enforce the odious orders issued in the previous years. 
It was only a question of time when such insolence would lead to re- 
taliation and war. 

The affairs of the two nations were fast approaching a crisis. It 
became more and more apparent that the wrongs perpetrated by Great 
Britain against the United States would have to be corrected by force 
)f arms. That England, after such a career of arrogance, would now 
make reparation for the outrages committed by her navy was no longer 
to he hoped for. The ministry of that same George III. with whom 
the colonies had struggled in the Kevolution still directed the affairs 




JAMKS MADISON. 



390 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of the kingdom; froni hiiu, now grown old and in^iane, nothing was 
to be expected. The government of tlie United States had fallen 
completely nnder control of the party which .syni})athized with France, 
while the Federal party, from its leaning toward British interests and 
institntions, grew weaker year by year. The American jjcople, smart- 
ing under tiie insults of Great Britain, had adopted tiie motto of Fkek 
Trade AXD Sailoks' RuiHTs, and for that motto they had made up 
their minds to liglit. The elections, held between 1<S0S and 1811, 
showed conclusively the drift of public opinion; the sentiment of the 
countrv was that war was preferable to further humiliation and dis- 
grace. 

In the spring of 1810 the third census of the United States was 
completed. The population had increased to seven million two hun- 
dred and forty thousand souls. The States now numbered seventeen, 
and several new Territories were preparing for admission into the 
Union. The resources of the nation were abundant; its institutions 
deeply rooted and flourishing. But with the rapid march of civilization 
westward the jealousy of the Red man was aroused, and Indiana Ter- 
ritory was afflicted with an Indian war. 

The Shawnecs were the leading tribe in the country between the 
Ohio and the Wai)ash. Their chief was the famous Tecumtha, a brave 
and sagacious warrior; and with him was joined his brother Elkswa- 
tawa, called the Prophet. The former was a man of real genius; the 
latter, a vile impostor who pretended to have revelations from the 
spirit-world. But they both worked together in a common cause; and 
their plan was to unite all the nations of the North-west Territory in 
a final effort to beat back the whites. When, therefore, in September 
of 1809, Governor Harrison met the chiefs of several tribes at Fort 
Wayne, and honorably purchased the Indian titles to three million 
acres of land, Tecumtha refused to sign the treaty, and threatened 
death to those who did. In the year that followed he visited the 
nations as far south as Tennessee and exhorted them to lay aside their 
sectional jealousies, in the hope of saving their hunting-grounds. 

Governor Harrison from Vincennes, the capital of the Territory, 
remonstrated with Tecumtha and the Projihet, held several conferences 
with them, and warned them of what would follow from their proceed- 
ings. Still, the leaders insisted that tliey would have back the lands 
which had been ceded by the treaty of Fort Wayne. The governor 
stood firm, sent for a few companies of soldiers and mustered the mi- 
litia of the Territory. The Indians began to prowl through the Wa- 
bash Valley, murdering and stealing. In order to secure the country 



MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 391 

and enforce the terms of the treaty, Harrison advanced np the river 
to Terra Hante, built a fort which received his own name, jiassed on 
to Montezuma, where another block-house was built, and then hastened 
toward tlic town of the Prophet, at the mouth of the Tippecanoe. 
When within a few miles of his destination, Harrison was met by In- 
dian ambassadors, who aslced for the appointment of a conference on 
the following day. Their request was granted ; and the American 
army encamped for the night. The place selected was a piece of high 
ground covered witii oaks. Burnet Creek skirted the encampment on 
the west. Beyond that, as well as to the east of the oak grove, were 
prairie marsh-lands covered M'ith tall grass. Before daybreak on the 
following morning, 7th of November, 1811, the treacherous savages, 
numbering seven hundred, crept through the marshes, surrounded 
Harrison's position and burst upon the camp like demons. But the 
American militia were under arms in a moment, and fighting in the 
darkness, held the Indians in clieck until daylight, and then routed 
them in several vigorous ciiarges. On the next day the Americans 
burned the Prophet's town and soon afterward returned victorious to 
Vincennes. Tecumtlia was in the South at the time of tiie battle; 
when he returned and found his people scattered and subdued, he re- 
paired to Canada and joined the standard of the British. 

Meanwhile, the powers of Great Britain and the United States 
had come into conflict on the ocean. On the 16th of May Commo- 
dore Rodgers, cruising in the American frigate President, hailed a 
vessel off the coast of Virginia. Instead of a polite answer, to his 
.salutation, he received a cannon-ball in the mainmast. Other shots fol- 
lowed, and Rodgers responded with a broadside, silencing the enemy's 
guns. In the morning — for it was already dark — the hostile ship 
was found to be the British sloop-of-war Little Belt. The vessel had 
been severely though justly punished by the President, having eleven 
men killed and twenty -one wounded. The event produced great ex- 
citement throughout the countrv. 

On the 4th of November, 1811, the twelfth Congress of the 
United States assembled. In the body were many men of marked 
ability and patriotism. Jolin C. Calhoun of South Carolina now took 
his seat as a member of the House of Representatives. Henry Clay, 
already distinguished as a statesman, was chosen speaker. From the 
first it was seen that war was inevitable. It was impossible for the 
United States, knowing that more than six thousand American citi- 
zens had been impressed into the British navy, to endure, without dis- 
honor, further injury and insolence. Still, many hoped for peace; and 



HVf'i HIS TOBY OF THE UyiTED STATES. 

i\to winter passed witlidiit decisive measures. The President iiimself 
had no disposition and little eapaeity for war; and his various mes- 
sages to Conjrress were marked as the productions of a ruler over-cau- 
tious and timid. IJut not so with the fiery leaders of the Democracy 
who supported the President's administration; and notwithstanding 
the opposition of the Federalists, the war-spirit fired the jiopular heart 

In the mean time a transaction was brought to light which cre- 
ated intense excitement and roused the indignation of the whole 
country. On the night of the '2d of February, 1812, an Irishman, 
named John Henry, now a naturalized citizen of the United States, 
called at the President's mansion and revealed to him the astounding 
fact that the ministry of Great Britain, cooperating with Sir James 
Craig, governor of Canada, had been engaged for noine years in a trea- 
sonable sehenw to destroti the American Union.' Henry bore a letter 
from Governor Gerry of Massachusetts, and all the documents neces- 
.sary to prove the truth of his statements. As early as 1808 the atten- 
tion of the Canadian governor had been called to certain published 
articles written by Henry against republican governments; and the 
latter was summoned to Montreal. From him Craig learned of the 
intense hostility of the Federal party to the administration and of the 
great distress of New England on account of the Embargo and other 
restrictions on commerce. These facts were communicated to the 
British ministry, and Sir James promised Henry an annual salary of 
five thousand dollars to return to Boston and become the secret agent 
of England and Canada. 

The purpose of the conspirators was to aggravate the popular dis- 
content of New England until the Eastern States should be induced 
to secede from the Union and join themselves with Canada. But 
with the repeal of the Embargo and the subsidence of political excite- 
ment, Henry found the depravity of his business only equaled by its 
unprofitableness. The people of Massachusetts were in nf) humor to 
be led into a rebellion. Sir James Craig died, and Henry, unsuc- 
cessful and unpaid, went, in 1811, to London and presented his claim 
for thirty thousand pounds to the English ministers. By them he was 
well received ; but the payment of thirty thousand pounds for services 
which had resulted in nothing was reckoned a serious matter; and 
Henry was sent back to get whatever remuneration he could from Sir 
George Prevost, the successor of Craig in the governorshij) of Canada. 
Enraged at his treatment, the spy, instead of returning to ^Montreal, 
sailed to Boston, and going thence to Washington divulged the whole 
conspiracy to the President, surrendered his correspondence with 



^fAn/s()^"s administration. sy.-j 

Craijr, ami recoivcil tlnTciiir fifty tlimisaiid ddllars out of the secret 
service fund of tlie United States. The dischjsure of this perfidious 
business eontributed greatly to eonsolidate public sentiment against 
Great Britain and to strengthen the hands of the war party in the 
government. 

On the 4th of April, 1812, an act was passed by Congress laying 
.n embargo for ninety days on all British vessels within the jurisdic- 
tion of the United States. But Great Britain would not recede from 
lier hostile attitude. One of the ministers declared that it was " an 
ancient and well-established right" of His Majesty's government to 
impress British seamen on board of neutral vessels. Before the final 
decision of England was known, Louisiana, the eighteenth State, was, 
on the 8th of April, admitted into the Union. The area of the new 
commonwealth was more than forty-one thousand square miles ; and 
her population, according to the census of 1810, liad readied seventy- 
seven thousand. 

On the 4th of June a resolution declaring war against Great 
Britain was passed by the House of Representatives. On the 17th of 
the same month the bill received the sanction of the Senate; and two 
days afterward tiie President issued his proclamation of war. Vigor- 
ous preparations for the impending conflict were made by Congress. 
It was ordered to I'aise twenty-five thousand regular troojis and fifty 
thousand volunteers. At the same time the several States were re- 
luested to call out a hundred thousand militia for the defence of the 
t!oasts and harbors. A national loan of eleven million dollars was au- 
thorized. Henry Dearborn of Massachusetts was chosen first major- 
general and commander-in-chief of the army. 

Great Britain was already prepared for the conflict. Her armies 
in Europe were immense and thoroughly equipped. Napoleon just at 
this time began his famous invasion of Russia, and the allied nations 
of Western Europe M'ere for a while relieved of their apprehensions. 
The British navy amounted to no less than a thousand and thirty-six 
vessels. Of these there were two hundred and fifty-four ships-of-the- 
line, not one of which carried less than seventy -four guns of large 
caliber. At various stations on the American coast there were eighty- 
five war-vessels bearing the English flag, and ready for immediate ac- 
tion. Lake Ontario was commanded by four British brigs carrying an 
aggregate of sixty guns. The Canadian armies of England amounted 
:i> seven thousand five hundred regulars and forty thousand militia. 
Back of all these forces and armaments stood the seemingly inexhaust- 
ible Britisli treasury, v.'ii^i the ambitious young Lord Castlercagh and 



394 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 




SCENE OF HULL'S CAMPAIGN, 
1812. 



his associate ministers to disburse it. As to George III., old age and 
incurable insanitv had at hist prevaik'd to disphice him t'roni the throne 
and to make tlie Prince Regent, George IV., the actual sovereign. In 
all that appertained to preparation and readiness for the conflict the 
United States bore no comparison to tiie j)()\v- 
erful foe. 

The first movement of the war Mas luaiL 
i)y General William Hull, governor of Midii- 
ffan Territorv. A force of twelve hundred Oiiio 
volunteers, together with three hundred regu- 
lars, was organized at Dayton for tlie purpose 
of overawing the Indians on the north-western 
frontier. Hull was also authorized, should cir- 
cumstances warrant such a course, to invade and 
conquer Ganada. The march began on the 1st 
of June; and it was a full month before the 
army, toiling through more than two hundred 
miles of forests, reached the western extremity 
of Lake Erie. Arriving at the Maumec, Hull despatched his baggage, 
stores and official papers in a boat to Detroit. But the British forces 
posted at Maiden had already been informed of the declaration of 
hostilities ; and Hull's boat with every thing on board was captureil 
Nevertheless, the American army pressed on to Detroit, where earl\ 
in July the general received despatches informing him of the dec- 
laration of war, and directing him to proceed with the invasion of 
Ganada. On the 12th of the month he crossed the Detroit River to 
Sandwich with the avowed puri)Ose of capturing Maiden. And this 
might easily have been accomplished had not the inefficiency of the 
general checked the enthusiasm of the army. 

Meanwhile, the news came that the American post at Mackinaw- 
had been surprised and captured by the British. This intelligence fur- 
nished Hull a good excuse for rccrossing the river to Detroit. Here 
he received intelligence that Major Brush, sent forward by Governor 
Meigs of Ohio, was approaching with reinforcements and supplies. 
Major Van Home was accordingly desjiatched with a body of troops 
to meet Brush at the River Raisin and conduct him safely to Detroit. 
But Teeumtha, assisted by some British troops, had cut the lines of 
communication and laid an ambush for Van Home's forces in th' 
neigborhood of Brownstown. The scheme was successful; Van Horm 
ran into the trap and was severely defeated. Any kind of energetic 
movement on Hull's part would have retrieved the disaster; but en- 



MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 395 

ergy was altogether wanting; and when, three days later, Colonel Mil- 
ler with another detachment attacked and routed the savages with great 
loss, he Mas hastily recalled to Detroit. The officers and men lost all 
faith in the commander, and there were symptoms of a mutiny. 

In the mean time. General Brock, the governor of Upper Can- 
ada, arrived at Maiden and took eomraand of the British forces. Act- 
ing in conjunction with Tecumtha, he crossed the river, and on the 
16th of August advanced to the siege of Detroit. The Americans in 
their trenches outside of the fort were eager for battle, and stood witli 
lighted matches awaiting the order to fire. When the British were 
within five hundred yards, to the amazement of both armies Hull 
hoisted a white flag over the fort. There was a brief parley and tlien 
a surrender, perhaps the most shameful in the history of the United 
States. Not only the army in Detroit, but all the forces under Hull's 
command, became prisoners of war. The whole of Michigan Territory 
was surrendered to the British. At the capitulation the American offi- 
cers in rage and despair stamped the ground, broke their swords and 
tore off their epaulets. Tlie whole country was humiliated at the dis- 
graceful business. The government gave thirty British prisoners in 
exchange for Hull, and he was brought before a court-martial charged 
with treason, cowardice and conduct unbecoming an officer. He was 
convicted on the last two charges, and sentenced to be shot ; but the 
President,. having compassion on one who had served the country in 
the Revolution, pardoned him. After all the discussions that have 
been had on Hull and his campaign, the best that can be said of him 
is that he was a jiatriot and a coward. 

About the time of the fall of Detroit, Fort Dearborn, on the 
present site of Chicago, was invested by an army of Indians. The 
garrison was feeble, and the commandant proposed a surrender on 
condition that his men should retire without molestation. This was 
agreed to ; but the savages, finding that the garrison had destroyed 
the whisky that was in the fort, fell upon the retreating soldiers, killed 
some of them, and distributed the rest as captives. On the day after 
the capitulation Fort Dearborn was burned to the ground. 

These losses, however, were more than compensated by the brill- 
iant achievements of the young American navy. From the first it 
became ap])arent tiiat the war was destined to be a conflict on the sea- 
coast and the ocean. The United States would act for the most part 
on the defensive, and Great Britain would rely chiefly upon her navy. 
The condition of both nations was such as to provoke this sort of war- 
fare. On the one side was the British armament superior to any other 



396 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

in the world, and on the other an exposed sea-coast, a few fortresses, 
and a navy of almost insignificant proportions. From the beginning, 
the policy of the American government had been distinctly declared 
against a standing army and a regular fleet. It was held that a citizen 
soldierv and an extemporized flotilla would be sufficient for every 
emergency. A large military establishment, said the defenders of the 
American system, is enormously expensive and a constant menace to 
civil libertv. After the Kcvolution, especially during the administra- 
tion of Jefferson, tlie military spirit Mas discouraged and tlie defenses 
of the country fell into decay. In 1808 the whole coast of Maine 
was defended only by Fort Sumner, at Portland. New Hampshire had 
but one fortress, a half ruined block-house at Portsmouth. On the 
coast of Massachusetts four fortifications — one at C\i]w Ann, one at 
Salem, one at Marblehead, and Fort Independence in Boston Harbor 
furnished the only security against attack. In the neighborhood of 
Newport, Rhode Island, there were six works, some of importance, 
others insignificant. Xew London, Connecticut, was defended by Fort 
Trumbull, a block-house of considerable strength but in bad repair. 
On Governor's Island, in Xew York Harbcn-, stood Fort Jay, which, 
together with the Batterv at the .south end of IManhattan and some 
slight fortifications on Ellis's and Bedloc's Islands, furnished a toler- 
able protection. The whole coast of New Jersey lay open to invasion 
On Mud Island in the Delaware, a short distance below Pl>iladelphia, 
stood the formidable Fort Mifflin, an old British fort of the Revolu- 
tion. Not less in strength and importance was Fort McHenry on the 
Patapsco, commanding the approach to Baltimore. Annapolis was 
defended by Fort Severn, then only a grt)up of breast-works. Nor- 
folk, A'irginia, relied for protection on a fort of the same name and 
another work, called Fort Nelson, on the opposite side of Elizabeth 
River. In Charleston Harbor stood Fort Johnson on James's Island, 
Fort Pinckney in front of the city, aiul Fort ^loultrie of Revolutionary 
fame. Upon these scattered fortifications and the terror inspired by 
Fulton's torpedoes the Americans must depend for the defense of a 
coast-line reaching from Passamaquoddy to the St. ]\Iary's. 

Such was the attitude and relative strength of the two nations. 
Great, therefore, was the astonishment of the world when the American 
sailors, not waiting to be attacked, went forth without a tremor to 
smite the mistress of the .seas. And greater the admiration Avhen a 
series of brilliant victories declared for the flag of the Republic. 
During the summer of 1812 the navy of the United States won a just 
and lasting renown. On the 19th of August the frigate Consiltidion, 



MADISOX'S ADMINISTRATION. 397 

commanded l)v Captain I.saac Hull, overtook the British ship-of-war 
Guerrierr, off the coast of Massaeluisetts. Captain Dacres, who com- 
manded the British vessel, had been boasting of his prowess and send- 
ing challenges to American vessels to come ont and fight; now there 
was an opportunity to exhibit his valor. The vessels mananivred for 
a while, the Conditution closing with her antagonist, until at half-pistol 
shot she poured in a terrible broadside, sweeping the decks of tlie 
Guerrierc and deciding the contest. Dacres, after losing fifteen men 
killed and sixty-three wounded, struck his colors and surrendered his 
shattered vessel as a prize. The American loss was seven killed and 
an equal number wounded. On the following morning the Guerriere, 
being unmanageable, was blown up; and Hull returned to j)ort with 
his prisoners and spcnls. 

On the 18th of October the American sloop-of-war Wasji, of 
eighteen guns, under command of Captain Jones, fell in with a fleet 
of British merchantmen oif the coast of Virginia. The squadron was 
under convoy of the brig Frolic, of twenty-two guns, commanded by 
Captain Whinyates, who put his vessel between the merchantmen and 
the WoNp, and prepared for battle. A terrible engagement ensued, 
lasting for three-quarters of an hour. Both ships became nearly help- 
less; but the Wasp closed with her foe and delivered a final broadside 
which completely cleared the deck. The American crew then boarded 
^he Frolic and struck tlie British flag; for not a seaman was left above 
deck to perform that service. Scarcely had the smoke of the conflict 
cleared away when the Poicticrs, a British .seventy-four gun ship, bore 
down upon the scene, captured the Wasp and retook the wreck of the 
Frolic. But the fame of Captain Jones's victory was not dimmed by 
the catastrophe. 

Seven days afterward. Commodore Decatur, commanding the 
frigate United Sfatc-s, of forty-four guns, attacked the British frigate 
Macedonia, of forty-nine guns. The battle was fought a short distance 
west of the Canary Islands. After a two hours' engagement, in which 
the Vnilcd States was but little injured, the Macedonia surrendered, 
witli a loss in killed and wounded of more than a hundred men. On 
the 12th of December the ship Essex, commanded by Captain Porter, 
captured the Nocton, a British packet, having on board fifty-five thou- 
sand dollars in specie. More important still was the capture of the 
frigate Java by the Constitution, now under command of Commodore 
Bainbridge. On the 29th of December the two vessels met off San 
Salvador, on the coast of Brazil. A furious battle ensued, continuing 
for two hours. Every mast was torn from the British ship, and her 



398 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

liiill was biir.st with round shot. The deck was made slippery with tlie 
blood of more than two hundred killed and wounded seamen. Tiie 
vessel was reduced to a wreek before her flag was struck ; then the 
erew and passengers, numbering upward of four hundred, were trans- 
ferred to the Constitution, and the hull of the Java was burned at sea. 
The news of these successive victories roused the enthusiasm of the 
])eople to the highest pitch. In the course of the year two hundred 
and fifty British ships, carrying three thousand .sailors, and cargoes of 
immense value, were captured by the American cruisers. Filled with 
exultation, the people of the United States saw in these naval tri- 
umphs the omens of complete overthrow to the arrogant dominion of 
Britain on the seas. The nations of Europe heard in astoni.shment. 
France was well pleased ; for in these humiliations of her great enemy 
she witnessed the fulfillment of Napoleon's prophecy when, at the 
cession of Louisiana, he exclaimed with delight: " There! I have this 
day given to England a maritime rival that will sooner or later hum- 
ble her pride!" For a while the English themselves were well-nigh 
paralyzed. The British newspapers burst forth raging and declared 
that the time-honored flag of England had been di.sgraced " by a piece 
of striped bunting flying at the mast-heads of a few fir-built frigates,' 
manned by a handful of * ''^ * * and outlaws!" And the com- 
ment, though stated in unpleasant language, was true ! 

During the summer and autumn of 1812 military operations 
were active, but not decisive, on the Niagara frontier. The troops 
in that quarter, consisting of the New York militia, a few regulars, 
and recruits from other States, were commanded by General Stephen 
Van Rensselaer. The first movement of the Americans was made 
against Queenstown, on the Canada side of the river. On the 13th 
of October a thousand men were embarked in boats and landed on 
the western .shore. 'They were resisted at the water's edge, and 
Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, the leader, was wounded. Tiie 
subordinate officers led the charge, and the British batteries on the 
heights of Queenstown were carried. The enemy's forces were ral- 
lied, however, by General Brock, and returning to the charge, were 
a second time repulsed. General Brock fell mortally wounded. The 
Americans began to entrench themselves, and orders were sent across 
the river for the remaining division, twelve hundred strong, to has- 
ten to the rescue. But the American militia on the eastern shore de- 
clared that they were there to defend the United States, and not to 
invade Canada. There they stood all afternoon, while their comrades 
at Queenstown were surrounded by the British, who came with .strong 



MADISON'S ADMINISTRA TION. 



399 



rb-'-'".'^ 




reinforcements from Fort George. The Americans bravely defended 
themselves until they had lost a hundred and sixty men in killed and 
wounded, and were then obliged to surrender. General Van Rensse- 
laer, disgusted at the conduct of the New York militia, resigned his 
command, and was succeeded by General 
Alexander Smyth of Virginia. 

This officer began his career as com- 
mander by issuing two proclamations that 
would have put to shame the bulletins of 
Bonaparte or Caesar. He declared that in 
a few days his standards should be planted 
in the strongholds of Canada. After cross- 
ing Niagara and conquering the British do- 
minions, he would annex them to the United 
States ! His predecessors in command of the 
army had been popular men, but wholly des- 
titute of skill or experience in the art of war ! 
The soldiers of the "Army of the Center," as 
he called the militia under his authority, had 
now a general who would lead them to cer- 
tain victory ! Every man who performed a 
gallant action should have his name immortalized in the annals of liis 
country ! And so on for quantity and style. 

In the mean time the Americans, numbering between four and 
five thousand, had been rallied at Black Rock, a few miles north 
of Buffalo. From this point, on the 28th of November, a company 
was sent across to the Canada shore ; but instead of following with 
a stronger detachment, General Smyth ordered the advance party to 
return. A few days afterward another crossing was planned, and the 
Americans were already embarked, when they were commanded to 
return to winter quarters. The militia became mutinous. Smyth was 
charged with cowardice and disloyalty, and after three months was 
deposed from his command. Thus ended the military operations of 
1812. In the autumn Madison was re-elected President; the choice 
for Vice-President fell on Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. In the 
debates at the opening of Congress the policy of the administration 
was strongly condemned by the opponents of the war ; but vigorous 
measures were adopted for strengthening the army and navy. 



THE NIAGARA FBONTIER, 1812. 



400 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER L. 

WAR OF 1812— CONTINUED. 

IN the beginning of 1813 the Amerieau army was organized in three 
divisions: THE Army of the North, commanded by General 
Wade Hampton, to operate in the country of Ijake Champlain ; THE 
Army of the Centre, under direction of tlie commander-in-chief, to 
resume offensive movements on the Niagara frontier and Lake Ontario ■, 
THE Army of the West, under command of General Winchester, 
who M'as soon superseded by General Harrison. Early in January the 
latter division, made up of various detacliraents of militia from the 
Western States, moved toward the head of Lake Erie to regain the 
•ground lost by Hull in the previous summer. On the 10th of the mouth 
the American advance, composed of eight hundred men under Winchester, 
reached the rapids of the Maumee. A body of British and Indians was 
posted at Frenclitown, on the river ILaisin, thirty miles from Winchester's 
camp. A detachment of Americans pressed forward, attacked the enemy, 
captured the town, encamijcd there, and on the 20th of the month were 
joined by Winchester \\\t\\ the main division. 

Two days afterward the Americans were suddenly a.ssaulted by a 
force of a thousand five hundred British and Indians under command of 
General Proctor. A severe battle was fought, each party losing nearly 
three hundred men. The British were checked, and for a while the issue 
was doubtful ; but General Winchester, having been taken by the enemy, 
advised his forces to capitulate under a pledge of protection given by 
Proctor and his subordinates. As soon as the surrender \\as made the 
British general set off at a rapid rate to return to Maiden. The American 
wounded were left to the mercy of the savages, who at once began their 
work with tomahawk and scalping-knife and torch. The two houses 
into which most of the wounded had been crowded were fired, while the 
painted barbarians stood around and hurled back into the flames whoever 
attempted to escape. The rest of the prisoners were di-agged away through 
imtold sufferinars to Detroit, where thev were ransomed at an enormous 
price. This shameful campaign has fixed on the name of Proctor the 
indelible stain of infamy. 

General Harrison, on hearing the fate of Winchester's division, fell 
back from the Maumee, but soon returned and built Fort Meigs. Here 



WAR OF 12. 401 

he remained until the 1st of May, when he was besieged by a force of two 
thousand British and savages, led by Proctor and Teeunitha. Meanwhile, 
General Clay with twelve hundred Kentuekians advanced to the relief of 
the fort. The besiegers were attacked in turn, and at the same time the 
besieged made a successful sally. But for the mistake of Colonel Dudley, 
who allowed his detachment to be cut off and captured, the British would 
have been completely routed. Again the American prisoners were treated 
with savage cruelty until Tecumtha, not Proctor, interfered to save them. 
In a few days the Indians deserted in large numbers, and Proctor, be- 
coming alarmed, abandoned the siege, and on the 9th of May retreated U. 
Maiden. 

For nearly three months active operations were suspended. In the 
latter part of July, Proctor and Tecumtha with a force of nearly four 
thousand men returned to Fort Meigs, now commanded by General Clay. 
For several da}-s tlie British general beat about the American position, 
attempting to draw out the garrison. Failing in that, he filed off with 
about half his forces and attacked Fort Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky. 
This 2'lace was defended by a hundred and sixty men under command of 
Colonel Croghan, a stripling but twenty -one years of age. But he ex- 
hibited the skill and bravery of a veteran. To the enemy's summons, 
accompanied with a threat of massacre in case of refusal, he answered that 
the fort should l)e licld as long as there was a man left alive within it. 
For a while the British cannonaded the ramparts without much effect, 
and on the 2d of August advanced to carry the place by storm. Croghan 
filled his only gun with slugs and grape-shot, and masked it in such a 
position as to rake tlio ditch from end to end. The British, believing the 
fort to be silenced, crowded into the fatal trench, and were swept away 
almost to a man. The repulse was complete. Proctor, fearing the ap- 
proach of Harrison, raised the siege and returned to Maiden. 

At this time the waters of Lake Erie were commanded by a British 
squadron of six vessels carrying sixty-three guns. It was seen that a suc- 
cessful invasion of Canada could only be made by first gaining control of 
the lake. This serious undertaking was imposed on Commodore Oliver- 
H. Perry of Rhode Island — a young man not twenty-eight years old who 
had never been in a naval battle. His antagonist. Commodore Barclay, 
was a veteran from the sea-service of Europe, ^yith indefatigable energy 
Perry directed the construction of nine ships, carrying fifty-four guns, and 
was soon afloat on the lake. On the 10th of September the two fleets met 
a short distance north-west of Put-in Bay. Careful directions had Iieen 
given by both commanders for the impending battle ; both were resolved 
on victory. The fight was begun by the American squadron, Perry's 



402 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

flag-sliip, the Lawrence, leading the attack. His principal antagonist was 
the Detroit, under the immediate command of Barclay. The British guns, 
being longer, had the wider range, and were better served. The Lawrence 
was ruined ; nearly all the cannon were dismounted, masts torn away, 
sailors killed. 

Between the other ships the battle was proceeding in a desultory 
W'ay without much damage ; but Barclay's flag-ship was almost as nearly 
wrecked as the La.wrencc. Perceiving with quick eye how the battle stood, 
the dauntless Perry, himself unhurt, put on his uniform, seized his ban- 
Tier, got overboard into an open boat, passed within pistol-shot of the 
enemy's ships, a storm of balls flying around him, and transferred his flag 
to the Niagara. A shout went uj) from the American fleet ; it was the 
signal of victory. With the jiowerful Niagara still uninjured by the 
battle. Perry bore down upon the enemy's line, drove right through 
the midst, discharging terrible broadsides right and let"t. In fifteen 
minutes the work was done ; the British fleet was helpless. Perry with 
a touch of pride returned to the bloody deck of the Lawrence, and there 
received the surrender. And then he sent to General Harrison this 
famous despatch : " We have met the enemy, and they are ours — two 
ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop." 

This victory gave the Americans full control of Lake Erie. Both 
Proctor and Harrison awaited the result. If Barclay should win. Proctor 
would invade Ohio ; if Perry should prove victorious, Harrison would 
con(juer Canada. For the Americans the way was now opened. On the 
27th of September Harrison's army was embarked at Sandusky Bay and 
landed near Maiden. The disheartened British retreated to Sandwich, 
the Araericans following hard after. From the latter place Proctor con- 
tinued his retreat to the river Thames, and there faced about to fight. 
The battle-field was well chosen by the British, M'hose lines extended 
from the river to a swamp. Here, on the 5th of October, they were 
attacked by the Americans led by Harrison and General Shelby, governor 
of Kentucky. In the beginning of the battle. Proctor, being a coward, 
ran. The British regulars sustained the attack with firnmess, and were 
only broken when furiously charged by the Kentuckians under Colonel 
Richard M. Johnson. When that part of the field was won, the Ameri- 
cans wheeled against the Indians, who, to the number of fifteen hundred, 
lay hidden in the swamp to the west. Here the battle raged fiercely. 
Tecumtha had staked all on the issue. For a while his war-whoop 
sounded above the din of the conflict. Presently his voice was heard no 
longer, for the great chieftain had flillen. At the same time Colonel 
Johnson was borne away severely wounded. The savages, appalled by 



WAR OF '12. 



403 



the death of their leader, fled in despair. The victory was complete. So 
ended the campaign in tlie AVe^;t. The Indian confederacy was broken 
to pieces. All that Hull had lost was regained. Michigan was recovered. 
Ohio no longer feared invasicm. Perry swept Lake Erie with liLs fleet. 
Canada was prostrated before the victorious army of Harrison. 

Meanwhile, the Creeks of Alabama, kinsmen of the Shawnees, had 
taken up arms. In the latter part of August, Fort Mims, forty miles 
north of ]\Iobilc, was surprised by the savages, who appeased their thirst 
for blood with the murder of nearly four hundred people ; not a woman 
or child was spared, and but few of the men in the fort escaped. The 
news of the massacre spread consternation throughout the Southwest. 
The governors of Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi Territory made 
immediate preparations for invading the country of the Creeks. The 
Tennesseeans, under command of General Jackson, were first to the res- 
cue. A detachment of nine hundred men, led 
by General Coffee, reached the Indian town 
of Tallusiiatchee, attacked it, burned it, left 
not an Indian alive. On the Sth of Novem- 
ber a battle was fought at Talladega, east of 
the Coosa, and the savages were defeated with 
severe losses. In the latter part of the same 
month another fight occurred at Autosse, on 
the south bank of the Tallapoosa, and again 
the Indians were routed. 

During the winter Jackson's troops, un- 
jirovidcd and starving, became mutinous and 
were going home. But the general set the 
example of living on acorns ; then rode before 
the rebellious line and threatened with death the first mutineer who 
stirred. And no man stirred. On the 22d of January, 1814, the battle 
of Emucfau was fought on the west bank of the Tallapoosa. The valor 
of the Tennesseeans again gave them the victory. At Tohopeka, called 
by the whites the Horseshoe Bend, the Creeks made their final stand. 
Here the Tallapoosa winds westward and northward, enclosing a large 
tract of land in the form of a peninsula with a narrow neck. This posi- 
tion the Indians had fortified with more than their usual skill. The 
whites, led by General Coffee, surrounded the place, so as to prevent 
escape by crossing the river. On the 27th of March, the main body 
of whites under General Jackson stormed the breastworks and drove 
the Indians into the bend. There, huddled together without the pos- 
eibility of escape, a thousand Creek warriors, wiih the women and 




SCENE OF THE CREEK WAR, 

1S13-H. 



404 HI;STORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

children of the tribe, met tlieir doom. Tiie desperate Red men asked 
no quarter, and none was given. Tlie few chiefs who were still abroad 
sent in their submission ; the S2nrit of the nation -svas completely 
broken. 

On the 25th of A})ril, 1813, General Dearborn, commanding the 
Army of the Centre, embarked his forces at Sackett's Harbor, near the 
eastern extremity of Luke Ontario. The object of the expedition was tc 
capture Toronto, the capital of Upper Canada. Here was the most im- 
portant depot of supplies in British America. The American fleet under 
Connnodore Chauncey had already obtained the mastery of the lake, so 
that Dearborn's passage was unopposed. On the 27th of the month a 
force of seventeen hundred men, commanded by General Pike, was 
landed within two miles of Toronto. At the water's edge they were 
met by the British. The Americans drove the enemy for a mile and 
a half, stormed a battery, and rashed forward to carry the main de- 
fences. At that moment the British magazine blew up with terrific 
violence. The assaulting column was covered with the debris of the 
explosion. Two hundred men were killed or wounded. General Pike 
was fatally injured, but lived long enough to hear the shout of vic- 
tory ; for the Americans, first shocked and then maddened by the 
calamity, made a furious charge and drove the British out of the town. 
General Sheaffe with a body of regulars escaped ; the rest were taken 
prisoners. Property to the value of a half million dollars was secured 
to the victors. 

While this movement was taking place the enemy made a descent 
on Sackett's Harbor. By the withdrawal of the American forces that 
post had been left exposed. The British succeeded in destroying a quan- 
tity of stores; but General Brown rallied the militia, ami drove back the 
assailants with considerable loss. Meanwhile, the victorious troops at 
Toronto had re-embarked and crossed the lake to the mouth of the 
Xiagara. On the 27th of I\Iay the Americans, led by Generals Chandler 
and Winder, crossed the river and stormed Fort George, on the Canada 
shore. The Britisii hastily destroyed their posts along the Niagara and 
retreated to Burlington Bay, at the western extremity of the lake. The 
Americans, pursuing them thither, were attacked in the night, but suc- 
ceeded in repulsing the enemy with loss. 

During the months of summer military operations on the frontier 
were suspended. After the battle of the Thames, General Harrison had 
transferred his forces to Buffalo, and then resigned his commission. Or. 
account of old age and ill health General Dearborn also withdrew from 
she service, and wao succeeded by General M'ilkinson. The next cam- 



WAR OF 12. 405 

paign, which was jjlanned by General Armstrong, secretary of war, em- 
braced the couquest of Montreal. For this purpose the Army of tlie 
Centre, under Wilkinson, was ordered to join the Army of the North at 
some convenient point on the St. Lawrence. The enterprise was attended 
with many difficulties and not a few delays. Not until the 5th of Novem- 
ber did a force of seven thousand men, embarking from the mouth of 
French Creek, twenty miles north of Sackett's Harbor, sail down the St. 
Lawrence for the conquest of Montreal. Parties of British, Canadians 
and Indians, gathering on the northern bank of the river, constantly im- 
peded the progress of the expedition. General Brown was landed with a 
considerable force to disperse these bands or drive the enemy into the 
interior. On the 11th of the month a severe battle was fought at a 
]>]ace called Chrysler's Field. Neither party gained a victory, but the 
advantage remained with tlie British. The Americans, having lost 
nearly tliree hundred men in the fight, passed down the river to St. 
Regis, on the southern shore, where tlie forces of General Hampton 
were expected from Plattsburg to form a junction with ^yilkinson's 
command. But Hampton did not stir; and the project of attacking 
Montreal had to be abandoned. The Americans then went into winter 
quarters at Fort Covington, at the fork of Salmon River, nine miles 
from St. Regis. 

In the mean time, the British on the Niagara frontier rallied and 
advanced against Fort George. General McClure, the commandant, 
aliandoned the place on the approach of the enemy, but before retreating 
burned the Canadian town of Newark. It cost the people of Northern 
New York dearly ; for the British and Indians crossed the river, cap- 
tured Fort Niagara, and fired the villages of Youngstown, Lcwiston and 
Manchester. On next to the last day of the year Black Rock and Buffalo 
were laid in ashes. 

In the sea-fights of 1813 victory generally declared for the British. 
During the year both nations wasted much blood and treasure on the 
ocean. Off the coast of Demarara, on the 24th of February, the sloop- 
of-war Hornet, commanded by Captain James Lawrence, fell in with the 
British brig Peacock. The ships were ecpially matched. A terrible battle 
of fifteen minutes ensued, and the Peacock, already sinking, struck her 
colors. While the Americans were trying to transfer the conquered crew 
tlie ocean ya\vned and the brig sank out of sight. Nine British sailora 
and three of Lawrence's men were sucked down in the whirlpool. 

On returning to Boston the command of the Chesapeake — one of 
the best frigates in the American navy — was given to Lawrence, and 
again he put to sea. Before sailing he received a challenge from Captain 



406 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Broke, of the British frigate Shannon, to come out and fight liim. Law- 
rence ought not to have accepted the banter ; for his ecjuijiments were 
incomplete and his crew ill assorted, sick and half mutinous. But he was 
young, and the favorite of the nation ; fired with applause, he went un- 
hesitatingly to meet his foe. Eastward from Cape Ann the two vessels 
met on the firet day of June. The l)attle was obstinate, brief, dreadful 
In a short time every officer who could direct the movements of the 
C'hraapeahe was cither killed or wounded. The brave young Lawrence 
was struck with a musket-ball, and fell dying on the bloody deck. 
As they bore him down the hatchway he gave in feeble voice his last 
heroic order — ever afterward the motto of the American sailor — " Dfjx'T 
GIVE UP THE ship!" The British were already leaping on deck, and 
the flag of England was hoisted over the shattered vessel. Both 
ships were charnel-houses; but the Shannon was still able to tow her 
prize into the harbor of Halifax. There the bodies of Lawrence and 
Ludlow, second in command, were tenderly and honorably buried by the 
British. 

The next important naval battle was fought on the 14th of August 
between the American brig Argas and the British Pelican. The former 
vessel had made a daring cruise about the coasts of England, capturing 
more than twenty ships. Herself overtaken by the Pelican, she was 
obliged, after a severe couflict, to surrender. On the 5th of September 
another British brig, the Boxer, cruising otf the coast of IMaine, was over- 
liauled and captured by the American Enterprise, commanded by Captain 
Burrows. The fight raged for three-quarters of an hour, when the Boxer 
surrendered. Captain Blyth, the British commander, was killed ; and 
the gallant Burrows received a mortal wound. The bodies of both 
officers were taken to Portland and buried side by side with military 
honors. All summer long Captain Porter in the frigate Essex cruised in 
the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. For five months he was tb.e 
terror of British mei-chantmen in those broad waters. On the 28th of 
the following March, while the Essex was lying in the harbor of A"al- 
paraiso, she was beset, contrary to the law of nations, by two powerful 
British vessels, the Phoebe and the Cherub. The Essex had been crippled 
by a storm, and was anchored in neutral waters ; in that condition Captain 
Porter fought his two antagonists until nearly all of his men were killed 
or wounded ; then struck his colors and surrendered. Notwithstanding 
the losses sustained by the American na\y, privateers continued to scour 
ihe ocean and capture British vessels. 

From honorable Marfare the naval officers of England stooped to 
marauding along the sea-shore. Early in the }ear a squadron entered 



THE CAMPAIGNS OF 14. 407 

Delaware Bay and anchored before Lewistown. A requisition on the in- 
liabitants to supply the fleet with provisions was met with a brave refusal, 
A threat to burn the town was answered with a message of defiance. A 
bombardment of twenty-four houre' iluration followed ; the houses were 
mucli injured, and the people fled, carrying their property to places of 
3afety. Other British men-of-war entered the Chesapeake and burne<I 
several villages on the shores of the bay. At the town of Hampton, just 
above the Roads, the soldiers and marines perpetrated such outrages as 
covered their memory with shame. Commodore Hardy, to whom the 
blockade of the New England harbors had been assigned, behaved with 
more humanity ; even the Americans recognized and praised liis honor- 
able conduct. The year 1813 closed without decisive results. 



CHAPTER LI. 

TEE CAMPAIGNS OF 'U. 



IN the spring of 1814 another invasion of Canada was planned. Thtj 
Niagara frontier was the scene of operations; but there was nmch 
delay in bringing the scattered detachments of General Wilkinson's army 
into proper position. Not until the 3d of July did Generals Scott and 
Hipley, at the head of three thousand men, cross the Niagara from Black 
Rock to Fort Erie. This post, garrisoned by two hundred British, was 
surrendered without a battle. On the following day the Americans ad- 
vanced down the river-bank in the direction of Chipi)ewa village. Before 
reaching that ])lace, however, they were met by the British army, led by 
General Riall. On the evening of the 5th a severe battle was fought ou 
the plain just south of Chippewa River. The Americans, led on by 
Generals Scott and Ripley and the gallant Major Jessup, won the day ; 
but their loss amounted to three hundred and thirty-eight men. The 
British veterans, after more than five hundred of their number had Mien, 
were driven into their entrenchments. 

General Riall retreated first to Queenstown and afterward to Bur- 
lington Heights. General Scott, commanding the American right, was 
detached to watch the movements of the enemy. Ou the evening of the 
25th of July he found himself suddenly confronted by Riall's army, 
strongly posted on the high grounds in sight of Niagara Falls. Here 



408 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

was fought the hardest battle of tlie war. A man less courageous and 
self-confident than Scott would have retreated; but with extraordinary 
daring he held his own until reinforced by the other divisions of the 
army. The British reserves were also rapidly brought into action. 
Twilight faded into darkness, and still the battle was undecided. A de- 
tachment of Americans, getting upon the British rear, captured Genera^ 
Hiall and his entire staiF. Still the contest raged. The key to the 
enemy's position was a high ground crowned with a battery. Calling 
Colonel James Miller to his side and pointing to the hill. General Brown 
said, " Colonel, take your regiment and storm that battery." " I'll tr\ , 
SIR," was the answer of the gallant officer ; and he did take it, and held 
it against three desperate assaults of the British. In the last charge 
General Drummond, who led, was wounded, and the royal army, num- 
bering fully five thousand, was driven from the field witii a hiss of eight 
hundred and seventy-eight men. The Americans engaged in the battle 
numbered about four thousand ; their loss in killed, wounded and miss- 
ing was more than eight hundred. 

After this battle of Niagara, or Lundy's Lane, as it is sometimes 
called, General Ripley took commandof the American forces; for Generals 
Brown and Scott were both wounded. It was deemed prudent to fall 
back to Fort Erie. To that place General Gaines crossed over from 
Buffalo, and being the senior officer, assumed command of the army. 
Very soon General Drummond received reinforcements, moved forward, 
and on the 4th of August invested Fort Erie. The siege continued fur 
ten days, and then the British attempted to storm the works, but were 
driven back with severe losses. But the enemy was reinforced and the 
siege resumed. A regular and destructive bombardment was kept up by 
the British, and was answered by the Americans with equal energy. On 
the 28th of August General Gaines was injured by the explosion of a 
shell and obliged to relinquish his command. General Brown, though 
still suffering from the wound received at Niagara, was again called to 
direct the defences of the ibrt. On the 17th of September a sortie was 
ordered, and the advanced works of the British were gallantly carried. 
At the same time news arrived that the American general Izard was ap= 
preaching from Plattsburg with strong reinforcements. Alarmed at the 
threatening aspect of affairs, the British raised the siege and retreated to 
Fort George. On the 5th of November Fort Erie was evacuated and 
destroyed by the Americans, who then recrossed the Niagara and went 
into winter quartei-s at Black Rock and Buffalo. So ended the war in 
the country between Lakes Erie and Ontario. 

The winter of 1813-14 was passed by the Army of the North at 



THE CAMPAIGNS OF 14. 409 

French ^Mills, afterward called Fort Covington. In the latter part of 
February General Wilkinson advanced his forces to Plattsburg, and in 
the following month began an invasion of Canada. At La Colle, on the 
west bank of the Sorel, he encountered a force of the enemy, made an im- 
prudent attack and was defeated. Falling back to Plattsburg, he was 
superseded by General Izard. How that officer marched to the relief of 
General Brown at Fort Erie has already been narrated. The remaining 
division of the northern army, fifteen hundred strong, was left under com- 
mand of General Macomb at Plattsburg. At this time the American 
flotilla on Lake Champlain was commanded by Commodore MacDonough. 
For tiie purpose of destroying this fleet and obtaining control of the lake, 
the Britisli general Prevost advanced into Northern New York at the 
head of fourteen thousand men, and at the same time ordered Commodore 
Downie to ascend tlie Sorel with his fleet. 

The invading army reached Plattsburg without opposition. Com- 
modore MacDonough's squadron lay in the bay. On the 6th of Sejitem- 
ber General IMacomb retired with his small but courageous army to the 
south bank of the Saranac, which skirted the village. On came tiie 
British, enured the town, and attempted to cross the river, but were 
driven back. For four days they renewed their efforts; the Americans 
had torn up the bridges, and a jjassage could not be effected. TJie British 
fleet was now ready for action, and a general battle by land and water 
was planned for tlie 11th. Prevost's army, arranged in three columns, 
was to sweep across the Saranac and carry Macomb's position, wliile 
Downie's powerful flotilla was to bear down on MacDonough. The 
naval battle began first, and was obstinately fought for two hours and a 
half At the end of that time Downie and many of his officers had been 
killed; the heavier British vessels were disabled and obliged to strike 
their colors. ' The smaller ships escaped ; for the American brigs were 
so badly crippled that pursuit could not be made. Nevertheless, the 
victory on the lake was complete and glorious. The news was carried 
ashore, where tlie Americans were bravely contesting the passage of the 
river against overwhelming numbers. At one ford the British column 
succeeded in crossing ; but the tidings from the lake fired the militia with 
ardor ; they made a rusli, and the enemy was driven back. Prevost, after 
losing nearly two thousand five hundred men and squandering two and a 
half million dollars in a fruitless campaign, retired precipitately to Canada. 
The ministry cf England, made wise l)y the disasters of this invasion, 
began to devise measures looking to [leace. 

In the country of the Chesajjeake the scenes of tlie previous year 
were renewed by the British. Late in the summer Admiral Cochrane 



410 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATJiS. 

arrived off the coast of Virginia with an armament of twenty-one vessels. 
General Ross with an army uf four thousand veterans, treed from service 
in Europe, came with the ileet. The American squadron, commanded 
by Conuuodore Barney, was unable to oppose so powerful a force. The 
enemy's flotilla entered the Chesapeake with the purpose of attacking 
Wa.shington and Baltimore. The larger division of the British flee- 
sailed into the Patuxent, and on the 19th of August the forces of General 
Ross were lauded at the town of Benedict. Commodore Bai-ney was 
obliged to blow up his vessels and take to the shore. From Benedict the 
British advanced against Washington. At Bladensburg, six miles north- 
east of the capital, they were met, on the 24th of the month, by the 
militia and the marines under Barney. Here a battle was fought. The 
undisciplined militia behaved badly. Barney's seamen were overpowered 
by the British, and himself taken prisoner. The news of the defeat «as 
ra{)idly borne to Washington. Tiie President, the cabinet officers and 
the people betook themselves to flight, and Ross marched unopposed into 
the city. He had been ordered by his superiors to use the torcli, and the 
work of destruction was accordingly begun. All the public buildings ex- 
cept the Patent Office were burned. The beautiful but unfinished Capitol 
and the President's house M'ere left a msiss of blackened ruins. Many 
private edifices were also destroyed; but General Ross, himself a humane 
man, did less than he was ordered to do.* 

Five days after the capture of Washington, a portion of the British 
ieet, a.scending the Potomac, reached Alexandria. The inhabitants of 
that town, in order to avoid the fate of the capital, purchased the forbear- 
ance of the enemy by the surrender of twenty-one ships, sixteen thousand 
barrels of flour and a thousand hogsheads of tobacco. Baltimore redeemed 
herself more bravely. Against that city, after the capture of \\'ashington, 
General Ross proceeded with his array and fleet. Meanwhile, the militia, 
to the number of ten thousand, had gathered under command of General 
Samuel Smith, a Revolutionary veteran. On the 12th of Sei)teml)er the 
British were landed at North Point, at the mouth of the Patapsco ; and 
the fleet began the ascent of the river. The land-forces, after marching 
about halfway to Baltimore, were met by the Americans under General 
Strieker. A skirmish ensued in which General Ross was killed ; but 
Cofonel Brooks assumed command of the invading army, and the march 
continued. When approaching the city, the British came upon the Ameri- 
can lines and were brought to a halt by a severe cannonade. Gene'-?' 

* .\n excuse for tliis outrageous liarl);uism was found in tlie previous conduct of the 
Americans, who, at Toronto and other [jUices on tlie Canadian frontier, had behaved but 
little better. 



THE VAMI'AKiSS OF '14. 411 

Strieker, however, ordered hi.s itieii to fall back to a seeond line of 
defences, from which they gave the enemy a permanent check. 

Meanwhile, the British squadron had ascended tlie Patapsco and 
begun the bombardment of Fort McHenry, at the entrance to the har- 
bor. From sunrise of the 13th until after midnight the guns of the 
fleet poured a tempest of shot and shells upon the fortress.* At the 
end of that time the soldiers of the garrison were as full of spirit and 
the works as strong as at the beginning. It was plain that the Brit- 
ish had undertaken more than they could accomplisli. Disheartened 
and baffled, they ceased to fire. The land-forces retired from before 
tiie American entrenchments and re-embarked. The siege of Balti- 
more was at an end. 

During the summer of 1814 two expeditions were made against 
the Britisli and Indians of the Xortii-west. In May a force of two 
hundred men ascended the Mississippi from St. Louis and took post 
at Prairie du Chien, a short distance above the mouth of the Wiscon- 
sin. The object was to overawe the hostile Winnebagoes and Chip- 
pewas by establisliing an outpost in their territory. But before the 
fort was well begun a force of six hundred Canadians and Indians in- 
vested the place, and on tlie 17th of July compelled the detachment 
to surrender. The more important expedition was directed against 
tiie British fortress and dej>6t of stores at Mackinaw. A I'eginient 
of six hundred men, commanded by Colonel Croghan, famous for liis 
heroism at Sandusky, marched northward in midsummer from De- 
troit. Some vessels of Perry's tleet accompanied the land forces as a 
convoy ; but the movement was slow, and Mackinaw was not I'eached 
until the 4rth of August. Finding the defences of the place too high 
and strong to be injured i>v his guns (-roghan ordered an assault, 
which was made with spirit, lut repulsed. The enterprise was then 
abandoned, with no further injury to the British than the destruc- 
tion of some supplies and shipping in Georgian Bay. 

New England did not escape the ravages of war. On the itth 
and loth of August the village of Stonington, in the south-eastern 
corner of Connecticut, was bond)arded by Commodore Hardy; but 
the British, attempting to land, were beaten back by the militia. 
The fisheries of the New England coast were for the most part bro- 
ken Tip. The salt-works at Cape Cod escaped only by the payment 
of heavy ran.-^oms. All the principal harbors from jSlaine to Dela- 

* During the niglit of the bombardment Francis S. Kej', detained on board a British 
sliip and watcliing the .American Hag over Fort McHenry — seen at intervals by the glare 
of rockets and the flasli of cannon — composed The Slar-f^pawjled Banner. 



412 HISTORY OF THE VXITED STATES. 

Mare were iiiulor a rigorous blockade, and tlu' iiircign commt'rcc of 
tlie Eastern States was totally destroyed. The beacons in the light- 
houses were allowed to bum out, and a general gloom settled over 
the country. 

From the beginning many <:if the people of Xew England had 
opposed the war. Their interests centred in ships and factories; tl.c 
former were captured at sea, and the latter came to a stand-still 
Industry was paralyzed. The members of the Federal party cried out 
against the continuance of the contest. The legislature of Massachu- 
setts advised the calling of a convention. The other Eastern S'^ates 
responded to the call; and on the 14th of December the delegates 
assembled at Hartford. Tlie objects of the convention were not very 
clearly expressed ; but opjiosition to the war and the policy of the 
administration was the leading principle. The leaders of the Dem- 
ocratic party, who supported the war-policy of the governnienf, did 
not hesitate to sav that the purposes of the assembly were disloyal 
and treasonable. T5e that as it may, the convention ruined the Fed- 
eral 2)artv. After remaining in session with closed doors for nearly 
three weeks, the delegates published an address more moderate and 
just than had been expected; and then adjourned. But little hope 
of political ]n-eferment remained for those who participated in the 
Hartford convention. 

During the j)rogress of the war the Spanish authorities of Flor 
ida sympathized with the British. In the month of August a de- 
tachment of the enemv's fleet was allowed liy the commandant of 
Pensaeola to use that post for the purpose of fitting out an expedition 
against Fort Bowyer, commanding tlie entrance to the bay of Mobile. 
On the 15th of September the latter post was attacked, but the assail- 
ants were driven off. General Jackson, who at that time commanded 
the American forces in the South, remonstrated with the Spaniards 
against this violation of neutrality, but received no satisfaction. Jack- 
son, whose way it was to mete out summary justice to offenders, marched 
a force against Pensaeola, stormed the town and drove the British out 
of Florida. This was the beginning of the last campaign of the war. 

After the taking of Pensaeola, General Jackson returned to his 
headcpiarters at INIobile. There he learned that the British were mak- 
ing formidable prepai-ations for the conquest of Louisiana. Eepairing 
at once to New Orleans, he assumed control of the city, declared mar- 
tial law, mustered the militia, and adopted the most vigorous meas- 
ures for repelling the invasion. From Ea Fitte, chief of a band of 
smngsrlers in the Bav of Barataria, he obtained infoniiation of the 



THE CAMPAIGNS OF '14. " 4 IB 

'enemy's plans. The British army, numbering twelve thousancl, came 
in a fleet of fifty vessels from Jamaica. Sir Edward Packenham, broth- 
er-in-law of the duke of Wellington, was commander of the invading 
forces. On the 10th of December the squadron entered the outlet of 
Lake Borgne, sixty miles north-east of New Orleans. Four days af- 
terward a flotilla of gun-boats which had been placed to guard the 
lake was captured by the British, but not until a severe loss had been 
inflicted on the enemy. 

On the 22d of the month Packenham's advance reached the 
Mississippi nine miles below the city. A detachment was sent to the 
western bank of the river, but this operation was checked by a counter 
movement on the part of the Americans. On the night of the 23d 
■General Jackson sent a schooner down the Mississippi to bombard the 
British camp, while at the same time he and General Coffee advanced 
with two thousand Tennessee riflemen to attack Packenham's camp 
in front. After a bloody assault Jackson was obliged to retire, the 
«nemy losing most in the engagement. On the following day Jackson 
fell back and took a strong position along the canal, four miles below 
the city. Packenham advanced, and on the 28th cannonaded the 
American position with but little effect. On New Year's day the 
attack was renewed. The heavy guns of the British had now been 
brought into position ; but the Americans easily held their ground, and 
the enemy was again driven back. Packenham now made arrange- 
ments to *ead his whole army in a grand assault on tlie American lines. 

Jackson was ready. Earthworks had been constructed, and a 
long line or cotton-bales and sand-bags thrown up for protection. On 
tlie morning of the memorable 8th of January the British moved for- 
ward. They went to a terrible fate. The battle began with the light 
of early morning, and was ended before nine o'clock. Packenham 
hurled column after column against the American position, and col- 
umn after column was smitten with irretrievable ruin. Jackson's men, 
behind their breastworks, were almost entirely secure from the enemy's 
fire, while every discharge of the Tennessee and Kentucky rifles told 
with awful effect on the exposed veterans of England. Packenham, 
trying to rally his men, was killed; General Gibbs, second in com- 
mand, was mortally wounded. General Keene fell disabled; only 
General Lambert was left to call the shattered fragments of the army 
•Vom the field. Never was there in a great battle such disparity of 
losses. Of the British fully seven hundred were killed, fourteen hun- 
dred wounded, and five hundred taken prisoners. The American loss 
amounted to eight killed and tJiirteen wounded. 



414 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 

After the battle Jackson granted a truce for the burial of the 
British dead. That done, General Lambert recalled the detachment 
from the west bank of the river and retired with his ruined army into 
Lake Borgne. At Fort Bowyer he received the news of peace. 
Jackson marched into New Orleans with his victorious armv, and wa> 
received with unbounded enthusiasm. Such, so far as ojierations b^ 
land were concerned, was the close of the war. On the ocean hostili 
ties lingered until spring. On the 20th of February the American 
frigate Constitution, cruising off Cape St. Vincent, caught sight of two 
hostile vessels, gave chase, and after a severe fight captured them. 
They proved to be British l)rigs — the Ci/aiw, of thirty-six guns, and 
the Levant, of eighteen. ( )n the 23d of March the American Hornet, 
commanded by Captain Biddle. ended the conflict by capturing the 
British Penr/uin off the coast of Brazil. 

Already a treaty of peace had been made and i-atified. Both na- 
tions had long desired such a result. In the summer of 1814 Amer- 
ican commissioners were sent to Glicnt, in Belgium, and were there 
met by Lord Gambler, Henry Goulbnrn and William Adams, ambas- 
sadors of Great Britain. The agents of the United States were John 
Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell and 
Albert Gallatin. Several months were spent in negotiations; and on 
the 24th of December, 1814, a treaty was agreed to and signed. In 
England the news was received with deep satisfaction; in the United 
States, with a delight bordering on madness. Before the terms of 
settlement could be known, the people broke forth in universal jubilee. 
Nobody stopped to incpiire whether the treaty was good or bad, hon- 
orable or dishonorable. The Federalists found abundant reason for 
rejoicing that a war which they had persistently opposed as impolitic 
and unjust, was at an end. The Democrats sent up a double huzza, 
shouting first for Jackson's victory and afterward for peace. Nor 
could the country well be blamed for rejoicing that a conflict which 
had cost the United States a thousand six hundred and eighty-three 
vessels and more than eighteen thousand sailors, was ended. The 
war-ckmd rolled aAvay like an incubus from the public mind. The 
long blockaded, half-rotten shipping of New England was decked with 
flags and streamers, and in one dai/ the dock-yards were ringing with 
the sound of saw and hammer. On the 18th of February the treaty 
was ratified by the Senate of the United States, and jieace was publicly 
proclaimed. It was in the interim between the conclusion of the treatx 
and the reception of the news in the United States that the battle of New 
Orleans was fought. A telegraph would have saved all that bloodshed. 

There never was a more absurd treaty than that of Ghent Its 



THE CAMPAIGNS OF '14. 415 

only significance was that Great Britain and the United States, having 
Leen at war, agreed to be at peace. Not one of the distinctive issues 
to decide Avhich the war had been undertaken was settled or even men- 
tioned. Of the impressment of American seamen not a word was said. 
The wi'ongs done to the commerce of the United States were not re- 
ferred to. The rights of neutral nations were left as luidetermined as 
before. Of " free trade and sailors' rights," which had been the battle- 
cry of the American navy, no mention was made. The principal articles 
of the compact were devoted to the settlement of unimportant bounda- 
ries and the possession of some petty islands in tlie Bay of Passama- 
quoddy. There is little doubt, however, that at tlic time of the treaty 
Great Britain gave the United States a private assurance that impress- 
ment and the other wrongs complained of l)y the Americans should be 
practiced no more. For the space of sixty years vessels bearing the flag 
of the United States have been secure from such insults as caused the war 
of 1812. Another advantage gained by America was the recognition of 
her naval power. It was no longer doubtful that American sailors were 
the peers in valor and patriotism of any seamen in the world. It was 
no small triumph for the liejjublic that her flag should henceforth be 
honored on every ocean. 

At the close of the conflict the country was burdened with a 
debt of a hundred million dollars. The monetary affairs of the na- 
tion were in a deplorable condition. The charter of the Bank of the 
United States expired in 1811, and in the following years the other 
banks of the country were obliged to suspend specie payment. The 
people were thus deprived of the currency necessary for the transac- 
tion of business. Domestic commerce was paralyzed by the want of 
money, and foreign trade destroyed by the enemy's fleet. In the year 
after the close of the war a bill was passed by Congress to recharter 
the Bank of the United States. The measure being objectionable, the 
President interposed his veto ; but in the following session the bill 
was again passed in an amended form. The capital was fixed at thir- 
ty-five million dollai's. The central banking-house was established at 
Philadelpliia, and branches were authorized at various other cities. 
On the 4th of March, 1817, the new financial institution went into 
operation ; and the business and credit of the country were thereby 
greatly improved. Meanwhile, the United States had been engaged 
in a foreign war. 

During the conflict with Great Britain the Algerine pirates re- 
newed their depredations on American commerce. As soon as the treaty 
of Ghent was concluded the government of the United States ordered 
Commodore Decatur, commyndini:: a fleet of nine vessels, to proceed to 



41(5 HISTORY' OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the Mediterranean and chastise the Barbarv sea-robbers into submission. 
On tiie 17th of June, Decatur, cruising near Gibraltar, fell in with the 
principal frigate of the Algerine squadron, and after a severe fight of 
twenty minutes compelled the Moorish ship to surrender. Thirty of the 
piratical crew, including the admiral, were killed, and more than four 
hundred taken prisoners. On the 19th Decatur captured another frigat: 
bearing twenty guns and a hundred and eight men. A few days aftc 
,ward he sailed into the Bay of Algiers, and dictated to the humbled and 
terrified dey the terms of a treaty. The Moorish emperor was obliged to 
release his American prisoners without ransom, to relinquish all claims to 
tribute, and to give a pledge that his ships should trouble American mer- 
chantmen no more. Decatur next sailed against Tunis and Tripoli, com- 
pelled both of these states to give pledges of good conduct, and to pay 
large sums for former violations of international law. From tliat day 
mitil the present the Barbary powers have had a wholesome dread of the 
American flag. 

The close of Madison's troubled administration was signalized by 
the admission of Indiana — -the smallest of the Western States — into the 
Union. The new connnonwealth, admitted in December, 1816, caine 
with an area of nearly thirty-four thousand square miles, and a popula- 
tion of ninety-eight thousand. About the same time was founded the 
Colonization Society of the United States. Many of the most distin- 
guished men in America became members of the association, the objec; 
of which was to provide somewhere in the world a refuge for fi-ee persons 
of color. Liberia, on the western coast of Africa, was finally selected as 
the seat of the proposed colony. A rejiublican form of government was 
established there, and immigrants arrived in suflScient numbers to found 
a flourishing negro State. The capital was named Monrovia, in honor of 
James Monroe, who, in the fall of 1816, was elected as Madison's suc- 
cessor in the presidency. At the same time Daniel D. Tompkins of New 
York was chosen Vice-President. 



CHAPTER LIT. 

MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION. 



IN its political jirinciples the new administration was Democratic. T\v 
policy of Madison was adopted by his successor. But the storm; 
times of Madison gave place to many years of almost unbroken peace. 
The new President was a native of Virginia; a man of great talents and 



MOy ROE'S ADMINISTEATIOX. 417 

a''ComplL-ihments. He liad been a Rcvolutionarv soldier, a member of 
the House of Representatives; a senator; governor of Virginia; envov- 
to France ; minister to England ; secretary of state under Madison. The 
members of the new cabinet were — John Quincy Adams, secretary of state ; 
William H. Crawford, secretary of the treasury ; John C. Calhoun, secre- 
:ary of war; William Wirt, attorney-general. The animosities and party 
itrifes of the previous years were in a measure forgotten. Statesmen of all 
parties devoted their energies to the payment of the national debt. It was 
a herculean task ; but commerce revived ; the government was economic- 
ally administered; population increased; wealth flowed in; and in a few 
years the debt was honestly paid. 

In the first summer of Monroe's administration the attention of 
the United States was directed to the little kingdom of Hayti in tlie 
northern part of St. Domingo. Christophe, the sovereign of the 
country, was anxious to secure from America a recognition of Hay- 
tian in<lependence ; for he feared that Louis XVIII., the restored 
Bourbon king of France, would reclaim Hayti as a part of the French 
empire. The President met the overtures of Christophe with favor, and 
an agent was sent out in the frigate Congress to conclude a treaty of 
commerce with the kingdom. But the Haytian authorities refused to 
negotiate with an agent who was not regularly accredited as a minister 
to an independent state ; and the mission resulted in failure and dis- 
appointment. 

In September of the same year an important treaty was con- 
cluded with the Indian nations of what was formerly the Northwestern 
Territory. The tribes mostly concerned were the Wyandots, Dola- 
wares, Senecas, and Shawnees ; but the Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pot- 
tawattamies were also interested in the treaty. The subject discussed 
was the cession, by purchase and otherwise, of various tracts of land, 
mostly in Ohio. The Indian title to about four millions of acres, em- 
bracing the valley of the ^Slaumee, was extinguished by the payment 
to the tribes concerned of fourteen thousand dollars in cash. Besides 
this, the Delawares were to receive an annuity of five hundred dollars; 
while to the Wyandots, Senecas, Shawnees and Ottawas was guaran- 
teed the payment of ten thousand dollars annually forever. The 
Chippewas and Pottawattamies received an annuity of three thousand 
three hundred dollars for fifteen years. A reservation of certain tracts, 
amounting in the aggregate to about three hundred thousand acres, 
was made by the Red men with the approval of the government. For 
it was believed that the Indians, living in small districts surrounded 
vith American farms and villages, would abandon barbarism for the 



418 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

habits of civilized life. But the sequel proved that the men of tho 
woods had no aptitude for such a change. 

In December of 1817 the western portion of Mississippi Terri- 
tory was organized as the State of Mississippi and admitted into the 
Union. The new .State contained an area of forty-seven thousand 
.square miles, and a population of sixty-five thousand souls. At the 
.same time the attention of the government was called to a nest oi 
buccaneers who had established themselves on Amelia Island, off the 
north-eastern coast of Florida. One Gregor McGregor, acting under 
a commission from the revolutionary authorities of New Granada and 
Venezuela, had put himself at the head of a band of adventurers, 
gathered mostly from Charleston and Savannah, and fortified the island 
as a rendezvous of slave-traders and South American privateers. It 
was thought l)v the audacious rascals that the well-known sympathy 
of the United States for the Spanish American republics south of the 
Isthmus of Daricn would protect them from attack. They accord- 
ingly proclaimed a blockade of St. Augustine and proceeded with their 
business as though there was no civilized power in the world. But 
the Federal government took a diiferent view of the matter. An 
armament was sent against the pirates, and the lawless establLshment 
was broken up. Another rendezvous of the same .sort, on the island 
of Galveston, off the coast of Texas, was also suppressed. 

In the first year of Monroe's administration the ([ucstion of inter- 
nal improvements V)egan to be much agitated. The territorial vastness 
of the country made it necessary to devise suitable means of communi- 
cation between the distant parts. Without railroads and canals it was 
evident that the products of the great interior could never ra'ch a 
market. Had Congress a right to vote money to make the needed 
improvements? Jefferson and Madi.son had both answered the ques- 
tion in the negative. Monroe held similar views; and a majority of 
Congress voted against the proposed appropriations. In one instance, 
however, a bill was passed ajipropriating the means necessary for the 
construction of a national road across the Alleghanies, from Cumber- 
land to Wheeling. The question of internal improvements was then 
referred to the several States ; and New York took the lead by con- 
structing a splendid canal from Buffalo to Albany, a distance of three 
hundred and sixty-three miles. The cost of this important work wa.s 
more than .seven and a half million dollars, and the eight years oi 
Monroe's administration were occupied in completing it. 

In the latter jiart of 1817 the Seminole Indians on the frontiers oi 
Georgia and Alabama became hostile. Some bad negroes and treacher- 



MONROE'S ADMLVISTKATIOX 419 

ons i^recks joined the savages in their depredations. General Gaines, 
commandant of a post on Flint River, was sent into the Seminole 
country, but after destroying a few villages his forces were found in- 
adequate to conquer tlie Red men. General Jaekson was then ordered 
to collect from the adjacent States a sufficient army and reduce the 
Seminoles to submission. Instead of following his directions, that 
stern and self-willed man nuistered a thousand riflemen from West 
Tennessee, and in the sjjriug of 1818 overran the hostile country with 
little opposition. The Indians were afraid to fight the man whom 
they had named the Big Knife. 

While engaged in this expedition against the Seminoles, Jackson 
entered Florida and took possession of the Spanish post at St. Mark's. 
He deemed it necessary to do so in order to succeed in suppressing 
the savages. The Spanish troops stationed at St. Mark's were removed 
to Pensacf>la; and two Englishmen, named Arbuthnot and Ambrister, 
who fell into Jackson's hands, were charged with inciting the Semi- 
noles to insurrection, tried liy a court-martial, and hanged. Jackson 
tiien advanced against Peusacola, captured the town, l)esieged and took 
the fortress of Barancas, at the entrance to the bay, and sent tlie Span- 
ish authorities to Havana. These summary proceedings excited mueli 
I'omment throughout the country. The enemies of General Jackson 
:'ondemned him in unmeasured terms ; but the President and Gon- 
irress justified his deeds. A resolution of censure, introduced into the 
House of Representatives, was voted down by a large majority. The 
king of Spain complained much ; but his complaint was unheeded. 
Seeing that the defence of such a province would cost more than it 
was worth, the Spanish monarch then proposed to cede the territory 
to the United States. For this purpose negotiations were opened at 
Washington City; and on the 22d of February, 1819, a treaty was 
concluded by whieli East and West Florida and the outlying islands 
were surrendered to the American government. In consideration of 
the cession the United States agreed to relinquish all claim to the ter- 
ritory of Texas and to pay to American citizens, for depredations com- 
mitted by Sftanish vessels, a sum not exceeding five million dollars. 
By the same treaty the eastern boundary of Mexico was fixed at the 
River Sabine. 

The year 1819 was noted for a great financial crisis — the first of 
many that have occurred to disturb and distress the country. With 
.'he reorganization of the Bank of the United States in 1817, the im- 
proved facilities for credit gave rise to many extravagant speculations, 
generally conceived in dishonesty and carried on by fraud. The great 



e 



420 HISTORY OF THE US WED STATES. 

branoli bank at Baltimore Nvas especially infested by a \y,\\\A of nnscru- 
pulous speoulator.s who succeeded, in connivance with the otticcrs, in 
Avithdrawing from the institution fully two millions of dollars beyond 
its securities. President Cheves, however, of the superior Board o 
Directors, adopted a jjolicy which exjjosed the prevailing rascality, 
and by putting an end to the system of unlimited credits, gi-adually 
restored the business of the country to a firmer basis. But, for the 
time being, financial affairs were thrown into confusion; and the 
Bank of the United States itself was barely saved from susjiension 
and bankruptcy. 

Monroe's administration was noted for the great number of new 
members which were added to the Union. In 1.S18, Illinois, the 
twenty-first State, embracing an area of more than fifty-five thousand 
square miles, was organized and admitted. The pojinlation of the 
new commonwealth Avas forty -seven thousand. In December of the 
fblloAving year Alabama was added, with a population of a hundred 
and twenty-five thousand, and an area of nearly fifty-one thousand 
square miles. About the same time Arkansas Territory was organ- 
ized out of the southern portion of the Territory of Missouri. Early 
in 1820 the province of Maine, which had been under the jurisdic- 
diction of Massachusetts since 1652, was separated from that govern- 
ment and admitted into the Union. At the time of admission the 
}X)pulation of the new State had reached two hundred and ninety- 
eight thousand; and its territory embraced nearly thirty -two thou- 
sand square miles. In August of 1821 the great State of jNIissouri, 
with an area of sixty-seven thousand .s([uure miles, and a population 
of seventy-four thousand, was admitted as the twenty-fourth member 
(if the Union ; but the admission was attended with a juditical agita- 
tion so violent as to threaten the peace of the country. 

The l)ill to organize Missouri as a territory was brought forward 
in February of 1819. The institution of slaveiy had already been 
planted there, and the question was raised in Congress whether the 
new State should be admitted with the existing .system of labor, or 
whether by congressional action slave-holding should be prohibited. 
On motion of James Tallmadge of New York a clause was inserted in 
the territorial bill forbidding any further introduction of slaves into 
Missouri and granting freedom to all slave-children on reaching the 
age of twenty-five. The bill as thus amended became the organ 
law of the territory. A few days afterwards when Arkan.sas was 
l)resented for territorial organization, John W. Taylor of Xew Yorlc 
moved the insertion of a clause similar to that in the Missouri bill ; 



MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION. 421 

but tlie jiropo.scd amendment was voted down after a hot debate. 
Taylor then made a motion that hereafter, in the organization of ter- 
ritories out of the Louisiana purchase, slavery should be interdicted 
in all that part north of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty 
minutes. This proposition was also lost after a very excited discus- 
sion. Meanwhile, Tallmadge's amendment to the Missouri bill was 
ilefeatod in the Senate, and as a consecpicnce both the new territories 
were organized irithoxd rcufridions in the m/ttfcr of .slavery. 

When the bill to admit Missouri as a State was finally, in Jan- 
uary of 1820, brought before Congress, the measure was opposed by 
those who had desired the exclusion of slavery. But at that time the 
new Free State of Maine was asking for admission into the Union ; 
and those who favored slavery in Missouri determined to exclude 
Maine unless Missouri should also be admitted. After another angry 
debate, which lasted till the 16th of February, the bill coupling the 
two new States together was actually passed ; and then Senator Thomas 
of Illinois made a motion that henceforth and forever slavery should 
be excluded from all that part of the Louisiana cession — Missouri 
excepted — lying north of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty 
minutes. Such was the celebrated Missouri Compromise, one of the 
most important acts of American legislation — a measure chiefly sup- 
ported by the genius, and carried through Congress by the persistent 
efforts, of Henry Clay. The principal conditions of the plan were 
these : fruf, the admission of Missouri as a slave-holding State ; .vcc- 
ondlij, the division of the rest of the Louisiana purchase by the par- 
allel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes; thirdly, the admission 
of new States, to be formed out of the territory south of that line, with 
or without slavery, as the people might determine ; fourthly, the pro- 
hibition of slavery in all the new States to be organized out of terri- 
tory north of the dividing-line. By this compromise the slavery agi- 
tation was allayed until 1849. 

Meanwhile, the country had measurably recovered from tlie 
effects of the late war. With peace and plenty the resources of the 
nation were rapidly augmented. Toward the close of his term the 
President's administration grew into high flvvor with the people ; and 
in the fall of 1820 he was re-elected with great unanimity. As Vice- 
President, ^Ir. Tompkins was also chosen for a second term. Scarcely 
!iad the excitement over the admission of Missouri subsided when the 
attention of the government was called to an alarming system of 
piracy which had sprung up in the West Indies. Early in 1822 the 
American frigate Congrens, accompanied with eight smaller vessels, 



422 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

was .sent thither; unci in the course of the year more tiian twenty 
piratical ships were captured. In the following summer Commodore 
Porter was despatched with a larger fleet tn cruise alxiut ('ui)a and 
the neighboring islands. tSuch was his vigilance that the retreats of 
the sea-robbers were completely _ broken up ; not a pirate was left 
afloat. 

At this time the countries of South America were disturliet 
with many revolutions. From the days of Pizarro these states had 
been dependencies of European monarchies. Now they declared their 
independence, and struggled to maintain it by force of arms. The 
])eople of the United States, having achieved their own liberty, nat- 
urally sympathized with the patriots of the South. Mr. Clay urged 
ujion the government the duty of giving oftieial recognition to the 
South American republics. At last his views jirevailed ; and in March 
of 1822 a l)ill was jwssed by Congress recognizing the new states as 
sovereign nations. In the following year this action was followed up 
by the President with a vigorous message, in which he declared that 
for the future the American continents irere not to he considered us sub- 
jects for colonization by an;/ European power. This famous declara- 
tion constitutes what has ever since been known in the politics and 
diplomacy of the United States as the Monroe Doctrine — a doe- 
triuc by which the entire Western hemisphere is consecrated to fret- 
institutions. 

Great was the joy of the American people in the summer of 
1824. The venerated La Fayette, now aged and gray, returned once 
more to visit the land for whose freedom he had shed his blood. The 
honored j)atriots who had fought by his side came forth to greet him. 
The younger heroes crowded around him. In every city, and on 
every battle-field which he visited, he was surrounded by a throng of 
shouting freemen. His journey through the country was a trium]jh. 
It was a solemn and sacred moment Avhen he stood alone by the grave 
of "Washington. Over the dust of the great dead the patriot of 
Fraue(> jxiid the homage of his tears. In Se])tember of 1S2.J he bade 
a final adieu to the people who had made him their guest, and then 
sailed for his native land. At his departure, the frigate Brandy- 
wine — a name significant ii)r }tin> — was prepared to bear him away. 
"While Liberty remains to cheer the "West, the name of I>a Fayette 
shall be hallowed. 

Before the departure of the illustrious Frenchman another pres- 
idential election had been held. It was a time of great excitement 
and much division of .sentiment. Four candidates were presented for 



ADAMS'S ADMINISTRA TION. 



423 



^ 



the siuiiages of the people. There was an appearance of sectionali.sra 
iu the canvass. John Quincy Adams was put forward as the candi- 
date of the East; 
William H. Craw- 
ford of Georgia as 
tiio choice of the 
bouth ; Henry Clay 
and Andrew Jack- 
son as the favorites 
of the West. Nei- 
ther candidate re- 
ceived a majority of 
the electoral votes, 
and for the second 
time in the history 
of the government 
the choice of Presi- 
dent was referred to 
the House of Ee]v 
resentatives. By 
that body Mr. Ad- 
ams was duly elec- 
ted. For Vice- 
President, John C. 
Calhoun of South Carolina had been chosen by the electoral college. 




LA FAYETTE. 



CHAPTEP LIII. 



A DAMS' S ADMINISTIiA TIOX, 



1S35-1839. 



THE new President was inaugurated on tlic 4th of ]March, 1825., 
He was a man of the highest attainments in literature and .states- 
manship. At the age of eleven years he accompanied his father, John 
Adams, to Europe. At Paris and Amsterdam and St. Petersburg the 
Kon continued his studie.s, and at the same time became acquainted 
witli the manners and politics of the Old World. The vast opportu- 
nities of his youth were improved to the fulle.st extent. In his riper 
years he served his country as ambassador to the Netherlands, Portu- 



424 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

gal, Prussia, Russia and Englaud. Sucli were his abilities in the fielc! 
of (liploniacv as to elieit from Washington the extraordinary i)raise of 
being the ablest minister of whieh America could boast. His life, from 
1794 till 1S17, was devoted almost wholly to diplomatical services at 
the various European capitals. At that critical period when the rela- 
tions of the United States with foreign nations were as yet not well 
established, his genius secured tlie adojjtion of treaty after treaty in 
which the interests of his country were guarded with patriotic vigi- 
lance. In 1806 he was honored with the professorship of Rhetoric 
and Belles- Lettres at Harvard College of which he was an alumnus. 
He had also held the office of United States senator from !Massachu- 
setts; and on the accession of Monroe to the presidency w'as chosen 
secretary of state. To the ]iresidential chair he brought the w'isdom 
of mature years, great experience and unusual ability. 

The new administration was an epoch of j)eace and prosperity in 
the country; but the spirit of jiarty manifested itself with mucii vio- 
lence. The adherents of General Jackson and ^Ir. Crawford united 
in opposition to the policy of the President; and there was a want of 
unanimity between the different departments of the government. In 
the Senate the political friends of Mr. Adams were in a minority, 
and their majority in the lower House only lasted for one session. 
In his inaugural address the President strongly advocated the doc- 
trine of internal imjirovemcnts ; but the adverse view-s of Congress, 
prevented his recommendations from being adopted. 

For a quarter of a century a difficulty had existed between the 
government of the Ignited States and Georgia in respect to the lands 
hidd in that State by the Creek Indians. When, in 1802, Georgia 
n^liiKpiished her claim to Mississippi Territory, the general govern- 
ment agreed to purchase and surrender to the State all the Creek 
lands lying within her own borders. This pledge on the jiart of the 
United States had never been fulfilled, and Georgia complained of 
bad faith. The difficulty became alarming ; but finally, in March of 
1826, a treaty was concluded between the Creek chiefs and tiie Pres- 
ident, by which a cession of all their lands in Georgia was obtained. 
At the same time the Creeks agreed to remove to a new home beyond 
the ^Iississij)pi. 

Gn the 4tli of July, 1826— just fifty years to a day after the Dec- 
laration of Independence — the venerable John Adams, second Presi- 
dent of tlie United States, and his successor, Thomas Jeffi?rson, both 
died. Both had lifted their voices fi)r freedom in the early and i)er- 
ilous davs of the Revolution. One liad written and both had signed 



18S5 



29 



33 



37 



Charles X 



George IV. 



Frederick Wil liam III. 

27. Acknowl edgment of the independ ence of Greece. 

30. French Kevolu tion and election of 



28. Abo 



liOuis 

lition of the " Test Act." 
30. Polish Revolu 
31. Fall of 
32. Pas 
.30. William IV. 



Philippe. 

tion. 

Warsaw. 

sage of the Great Keform 



40. Fi 

37. Attempted capture o 

39. Suppres 
40. Th 
bill by Parliament. 
37. Victoria. 



John Q. Adams, 

25. Controversy concern 



26. John Adams 
26. Thomas Jeff 

Jolm C. Cam 

28. Gr 



President, 
ing the lands of the Creek 

Audrew Jack 

The 



d. July 4. 
erson d. July 4. 



01U1, Vice-President. 

32. The 

eat political excitement 



Calhoun re-elected 
32.Grea 
32. The 
32. Proc 



Indians. 

son, President. 



36. Ar 



Black Hawk War. 



Jackson re-elected 



35. Seminole 



bm to recharter the Uni 
throughout the country. 

35. Removal 



Vice-President. 
t tariff excitement, 
doctrine of nullification de 
lamatioii by the President. 
JUartiu'Van Buren, 
33. Passage of Mr. Clay's 



33. Removal of Govern 



37. Michigan admitted 



kausas admitted into ths 



President. 



War. 



Martin Van Bi 

ted States Bank vetoed b 
37. Failure of the Sul 



of the Cherokeea. 



40. Pa 



clared by South Carolini 

Vice-President. 
Compromise bill. 

Richard M. Jo) 



ment funds from the Uej 
37. Financial crisis. . i 



^^^^SECOj^^ 




San Antonio 
36. 
36. 

36. 



taken 



by the Texans. 



V M The Alamo. 



TEX 



MEXICO. 

Santa Anna, President. 
36. The 



AS INDEPENDENT 

38. Lamar, Preij 
San JacinU). 



38. Vera Cruz besi 
'Central Republic" det 
37. Bnstamente, Pre 



1 

L 43 49 33 




48. Ou 


tbreak of the Hungarian 


Revolution. 


;rick William IV. 


46. Election of Pius 


IX. 52. Fall 


of Kossuth and the Hun- 




48. Ee 


volution in France. ga 


nan cause. 


Jrid by Dou Carlos. 


48. A 


republic proclaimed. 






48.I.O 


uis Napoleou Boiiapa 


rte elected President. 


of the Carlists in Sp 


ain. 


52. Lo 


uis Napoleon, Presi- 


ly of Napoleon return 


ed to France. 


dent 


for ten vears. 






52. to 


uis Napoleon, Emperor. 








54. The Crimean War, 



the Union. 

4^. The Dorr 

44. First 



The Webster- Ashbur- 
ton treaty. 



n, President. 

: President, 
suiy bill. 

illiam H. Har 

(Died April 4, 
i of the Treasury bill, 
freasury bill repealed. 
Passage of the Baukru 
Veto of the United Sta 
and resignation of the 
dent's Cabinet. 



Ollj Vice-President. 

States bank. 

>hn Tyler, vice- 

l President from April, 



Houston, President. 

t. 



Santa Anna, Freeid 

by the French. 
i. 

■t. 



James K. Folk, 

45. Florida admitted into 

rebellion in Rhode Island. 
46. Iowa admitted 



President, 
the Union. 

Zacliary Taylor, 

(Died "July 9, 
into the Union. 



telegraph line in the Uni ted States. 

48. Wis consin admitted into the 



46. The north-weste 
46. General Taylor 
46. Congress declar 



46. 



iPuloAlto. 



46. m mResaca de 



46. 



46. 



{Capture of 



h^lHIonlerey. 



George M. Dallas, 

48. Dis 
rlSOn, President. 

1841.) 



pt law. 
tes Bank, 
Presi- 



47. roJI-Swe 
47.piFer 
47.roJ| Cer 
47.|l|e<m 



President, 47. ||tf lift? 
1841. 



gMC'Aa 



47. 



^fllFaa 



48. Tre 
45. Texas admitted into 



ent. 



rn boundary fixed at 49°. 
ordered to the Rio Grande, 
es war against Mexico. 



la Palma. 



Matamoras. 



Vice-President. 

covery of gold in Californ 

Millard Fillmo 

President from 
na Vista, 



a Cruz. 



51. The Fugi 



ro Gordo. 

50. Utah erected into 

t7-eras. 



ino del Rey. 

49. New Mexico erected 
pulfcpec. 



of Mexieo. 

aty of peace with Mexico, 
the Union. 

50. The " Omnibus 

50. California adm 



President. 

1850.) 

Fr'nklin Pierce, 

Union. [President. 



54. Treaty with Ja- 
pan. 

54. Passage of the 
Kansas and 
Nebraska bill. 

54. The Missouri 
Compromise repealed 



ia. 54. Troubles in 
Kansas. 

re, Vice-President, and 
July, 1850. 

W. R. King, Vice-Pres. 
tive Slave Jaw passed, 
a Territorial government. 



into a Territorial govern- 
ment. 



Bill " passed, 
itted into the Union. 



ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION. 425 

the great Declaration. Both had lived to see their country's independ- 
ence. Both liad served that country in its highest official station. Both 
had reached extreme old age : Adams was ninety ; Jefferson, eighty- 
two. Now, while the cannon were booming tor the fiftieth birthday 
of the nation, the gray and honored patriots passed, almost at the same 
'aour, from among the living. 

In the following September, William ^Morgan, a resident of 
Western New York, having threatened to publish the secrets of 
the Masonic fraternity, of which he was a member, suddenly disap- 
peared from his home, and was never heard of afterward. The Ma- 
sons fell under the suspicion of having abducted and murdered him. 
A great clamor was raised against them in New York, and the ex- 
citement extended to other parts of the country. The issue between 
the Masons and their enemies became a political one, and many emi- 
nent men were embroiled in the controversy. For several years the 
anti-Masonic party exercised a considerable influence in the elections 
of the country. De Witt Clinton, one of the most prominent and 
valuable statesmen of New York, had to suffer much, in loss of repu- 
tation, from his membership in the order. His last days were clouded 
with the odium which for the time being attached to the Masonic 
name. 

In the congressional debates of 1828 the question of 'the tariff 
was much discussed. By a tariff is understood a duty levied on im- 
ported goods. The object of the same is twofold : first, to produce a 
revenue for the government; and secondly, to raise the price of the 
article on wliich the duty is laid, in order that the domestic manu- 
facturer of the tiling taxed may be able to com])ete witli the foreign 
producer. When the duty is levied for the latter j)urpose, it is called 
a profccfire tarijf. Whether it is sound policy for a nation to have 
j>rotectiye duties is a ijuestion which lias been much debated in all 
civilized countries. Mr. Adams and his friends decided in favor of 
a tariff; and in 1828 the duties on fabrics made of wool, cotton, linen 
and silk, and those on articles manufactured of iron, lead, etc., were 
much increased. The object of such legislation was to stimulate the 
manufacturing interests of the country. The rpiestion of the tariff 
has always been a sectional issue. The people of the Eastern and 
Middle States, where factories abound, have favored protective du- 
ties; while in the agricultural regions of the South and West such 
duties have l)een ojiposcd. 

The administration of Joiin Qiuncy Adams was the beginning 
of a new epoch in the history of the United States. The Revolution- 



426 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ary sages had gi-adiiail}' tiillcu out of the rauks of leadership; and the 
influences of the Revolution were not any longer distinctly felt in the 
decision of national questions. Even the war of 1812, with its bitter 
party antagonisms, its defeats and victories, and its absurd ending, was 
fading out of nicmory. New dispositions and tastes arose among the 
])eopk' ; new issues confronted the pul)lic; new methods prevailed ii 
the halls of legislation. Old party lines could no longer be traced, 
old party names were reduced to a jargon. Already the United State.s 
had surpassed in growth and development the sanguine ex])ectations 
of the fathers. But the conflicting opinions and interests of the na- 
tion, reflected in the stormy debates of Congress, gave cause for con- 
stant anxiety and alarm. 

With the fall of 1828 came another presidential election. The 
contest was .specially exciting. ]\Ir. Adams, supported by Mr. C'lav, 
the secretary of .state, was put forw'ard for re-election. In accordance 
with an understanding which had existed for .several years. General 
Jackson appeared as the candidate of the ojiposition. In the previ- 
ous election Jackson had received more electoral votes than Adams; 
but disregarding the jxipular preference, the House of Representa- 
tives had chosen the latter. Xow the people were determined to 
have their way; and Jackson was triumphantly elected, receiving a 
hundred aii<l seventy-eight electoral votes against eighty-three fc. 
his opponent. As soon as the election was over, the excitement — 
as usual in such cases — abated ; and the thoughts of the people were 
turned to other subjects. 



CHAPTER LIV. 

JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION 1S29-18S7. 

THE new President was a native of North Carolina, born on the 
Waxhaw, March loth, 1767. His belligerent nature broke out in 
bovhood, and his mother's plan of devoting him to the ministry was 
hopelessly defeated. At the age of thirteen he was under arms and 
witne.ssed Sumter's- defeat at Hanging Rock. He was captured by tlic 
Britisl), maltreated, and left to die of smallpox ; but his mother se- 
cured his release from prison and his life was saved. After the Revo- 
lution he began the study of law, and at the age of twenty-one went 



JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 



427 



to Nashville. In 1796 he was elected to the House of Representatives 
from the new State of Tennessee. Here his turbulent and willful dis- 
position manifested itself in full force. During the next year lie was 
promoted to the Senate, where he remained a year, u-'ithout hitiking a 
speech o r casting u 



rote. He then 



signed his seat 



I'e- 
md 
returned home. His 
subsequent career is a 
part of the history of 
the eountry, more par- 
ticularly of the vSouth- 
west witli which sec- 
tion his name was 
identified. He came 
to the presidential of- 
fice as a military licro. 
But he was more than 
that: a man of great 
native powers and in- 
flexible honesty. 
His talents were 
strong b u t u n ]i o 1 - 
ished ; his integrity 
unassailable; his will 
like iron. He was 
one of those men 

for whom no toils are too arduous, no responsibility too great. His 
per.s()nal character was strongly impressed ujion his administration. 
Believing that the ])ublic affairs would be best ccnidncted l)y sucii 
means, he removed nearly seven hundred office-holders, and ap])ointed 
in their stead his own political friends. In defence of such a course 
the precedent established l>y Mr. Jefferson was pleaded. 

In his first annual message the President took strong grounds 
against rechartering the Bank of the United States. Believing that 
institution to be both inexpedient and unconstitutional, he recom- 
mended that the old charter should be allowed to expire by its own 
limitation in 1836. But the influence of the bank, with its many 
l)ranches, was very great; and in 1832 a bill to recharter was brought 
before Congress and passed. To this measure the President opposed 
his veto; and since a two-thirds majority in favor of the bill could m>t 




ANDREW JACKSON. 



428 HISTORY OF THE U XI TED STATES. 

be .secured, tlio pnipDsitioii t(i grant a new charter failed, and the bank 
ceased by tlie original limitation. 

It was in the early part of Jackson's administration that the 
partisan elements of the country, which for some years had been 
whirling about in a chaotic condition, was resolved into the two great 
factions of ^Vhig and Democratic — a form whicli remained as the es- 
.stablished order in politics for a cpiarter of a century. The old Fed- 
eral party, under whose auspices the government was organized, had 
lost control of national aifairs on the retirement of John Adams from 
the jtri'sidcncy. Still the party lingered, opposed the war of 1812, and 
became odious from its connection with the Hartford Convention. In 
1820 only enough of the old organization remained to be severely 
handled in the great debates on the Missouri Compromise. Then fol- 
lowed, during Monroe's second term, what is known in American po- 
litical history as the Era of Good Feeling. Partisanship seemed 
ready to expire. On the other side, the line of political descent had 
begun with the anti-Federalists who after opposing the National consti- 
tution and the administrative policy of Washington and Adams, became 
under the name of RepvblicanH the champions of France as against 
Great Britain. But this name was soon exchanged for that of Demo- 
crats; and under that title the party came into power with the admin- 
istration of Jeiferson. Then followed the administrations of Madison, 
Monroe, and John Qnincy Adams under the same political banner. 
But in the case of Adams the new forces were already at work. AVhcn 
Jackson became President his arbitrary measures alarmed the country 
and drove all the elements of the opposition into a compact j)halanx 
under the leadership of Clay and Webster. To this new party organi- 
zation the name of ^Vhig was given — a name taken from the old 
Scotch Covenanters and English republicans of the .seventeenth cen- 
tury, worn by the patriots of the American Revolution to distinguish 
them from the Tories, and now adopted as the permanent title of the 
opponents of Jeifersonian Democracv. 

The reojicning of the tariff" fniesti<in occasioned great excitement 
in Congress and throughout the country. In the session of 1831-32 
additional duties were levied u]ion manufactured goods imported from 
abroad. By this act the manufacturing districts were again favored 
at the ex])ense of the agricultural States. South Canilina was spe- 
cially offended. A great convention of her people was held, and it 
was resolved that the tariflP-law of Congress was unconstitutional, and 
therefore null and void. Open resistance was threatened in case the 
officers of the government should attempt to collect the revenues in 



JA CKSON'S ADMINIS TEA TION. 



429 



the harbor of C'liarloston. In the United States Senate the right of a 
State, under oertain circumstances, to nullify an act of Congress was 
boldly proclaimed. On that issue occurred the famous debate be- 
tween the eloquent Colonel Hayne, senator from South Carolina, and 
Daniel W e 1) s t e r 
of Massachusetts, per- 
haps the greatest mas- 
ter of American ora- 
tory. The former ap- 
peared as the cham- 
pion of State rights, 
and the latter as the 
advocate of constitu- 
tional supremacy. 

But the question 
was not decided l)y 
debate. The Presi- 
dent took the matter 
in hand and issued a 
proclamation denying 
the right of any State 
to nullify the laws of 
Congress. But Mr. 
Calhoun, the Vice- 
President, resigned his 

<ifficc to accept a scat in the Senate, where he might better defend 
the doctrines of his State. The President, having warned the people 
of South Carolina against ])ursuing those doctrines further, ordered a 
body of troops under General Scott to proceed to Charleston, and also 
sent tliither a man-of-war. At this display of force the leaders of the 
nullifying party quailed and receded from their position. Bloodshed 
was happily avoided ; and in the following spring the excitement was 
allayed by a compromise. Mr. Clay brought forward and secured the 
passage of a bill providing for a gradual reduction of the duties 
complained of until, at the end of ten years, they should reach the 
standard demanded by the South. 

In the spring of 1832 the Sac, Fox and Winnebago Indians of 
Wisconsin Territory began a war. They were incited and led by the 
famous chief Black Hawk, who, like many great sachems before him, 
believed in the ])ossibility of an Indian confederacy sufficiently pow- 
erful to beat l)ack the whites. The laiuls of the Sacs and Foxes 




DANIEL WEBSTER. 



430 HISTORY OF THE US IT ED STATES. 

lying ill tln' Rock River eciuntrv of Illiiiuis, liad l)ecn purchased by 
the governnu'iit twcnty-tive years pri'vimisly. Tlie Indians, however, 
remained in tlie ceded territory, since there was no occasion for im- 
mediate occupation by the whites. When at last, after a quarter of a 
century, the Indians were required to give possession, they caviled at 
the old treaty, and refused to coni])ly. The government insisted that 
the Red men should fulfill their contract, and hostilities began on the 
frontier. The governor of Illinois called out the militia, and General 
Scott was sent with nine companies of artillery to Chicago. At that 
place his force was overtaken with the cln>lera, and he was prevented 
from co-oj)erating with the troops of General Atkinson. The latter, 
however, waged a vigorous campaign against the Indians, defeated 
them ill several actions, and made Black Hawk prisoner. The cap- 
tive chieftain was taken to Washington and the great cities of the 
East, where his understanding was opened as to the jiower of the 
nation against which he had been foolish enough to lift his hatchet. 
Returning to his own jx'ople, he advised them that resistance was 
hopeless. The warriors then aliaiiduned the disputed lands and re- 
tired into Iowa. 

Ditticnlties also arose with the C'herokees of Georgia. These 
were the most civilized and humane of all the Indian nations. They 
had adopted the manners of the whites. They had pleasant farms, 
goodly towns, schools, printing-presses, a written code of laws. The 
government t)f the United States had given to Georgia a pledge to 
purchase the Cherokee lands for the benefit of the State. The pledge 
W'as not fulfilled ; the authorities of Georgia grew tired of waiting 
for the removal of the Indians; and the legislature jiassed a statute by 
which the government of the Red men was abrogatt'd and the laws of 
the State extended over the Indian domain. With singular illiberal- 
ity, it was at the same time enacted tiiat the Cherokees and Creeks 
should not have tiie use of the State courts or the protection of the laws. 
This code, however, was declared unconstitutional by the supreme court 
of the United States. The Indians then appealed to the President for 
help; but he refused to interpose between them and the laws of Geor- 
gia. He also recommended the removal of the Cherokees to lands be- 
yond the Mississippi ; and with this end in view, the Indian Terri- 
tory was organized in the year 1834. The Indians yielded with great 
reluctance. More than five million dollars were paid them for their 
lands; but still they clung to their homes. At last General Scott 
was ordered to remove them to the new territory, using force if 
necessary to accomplish the work. The years 1837-38 were oc- 



JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 431 

eupied with the final transfer of the Cherokees to their homes in 
the West. 

More serious still was the conflict with the Seminoles of Florida. 
The trouble arose from an attempt on the part of the government to 
remove the tribe to a new domain beyond the Mississippi. Hostili- 
ties began in 1835, and continued for four years. The chief of the 
Seminoles was Osceola, a half-breed of great talents and audacity. He 
and Micanopy, another chieftain, denied the validity of a former treaty 
by which the Seminole lands had been ceded to the government. So 
haughty was the bearing of Osceola that General Thompson, the agent 
of the government in Florida, arrested him and put hira in irons. 
The red warrior dissembled his purpose, gave his assent to the old 
treaty, and was liberated. As might have been foreseen, lie immedi- 
ately entered into a conspiracy to slaughter the whites and devastate 
the country. 

At this time the interior of Florida was held by General Clinch, 
who had his headquarters at Fort Drane, seventy-five miles south-west 
from St. Augustine. The post was considered in danger ; and Majoi 
Dade with a hundred a!id seventeen men was despatched from Fort 
Brooke, at the head of Tampa Bay, to reinforce General Clincii. After 
marching about half the distance, Dade's forces fell into an amljus- 
cade, and were all massacred except one man who was left alive un- 
der a heap of the dead. On the same day Osceola, with a band of 
warriors, prowling around Fort King, on the Ocklawaha, surrounded 
a storehouse where General Thompson was dining with a company of 
friends. The savages poured in a murderous fire, and then rushed 
forward and scalped the dead before the garrison of the fort, only 
two hundred and fifty yards away, could bring assistance. General 
Thompson's body was pierced by fifteen balls; and four of his nine 
companions were killed. 

On the 31st of December General Clinch fought a battle with 
the Indians on the banks of the Withlacoochie. The savages were 
repulsed, but Clinch thought it prudent to retreat to Fort Drane. In 
the following February General Scott took command of the American 
forces in Florida. On the 29th of the same month General Gaines, 
who was advancing from the West with a force of a thousand men 
for the relief of Fort Drane, was attacked near the battle-field where 
Clinch had fought. The Seminoles made a furious onset, but were 
repulsed with severe losses. In May some straggling Creeks who 
still remained in the country began hostilities ; but they were soon 
subdued and compelled to seek their reservation beyond the Missis- 



432 HISTORY OF THE I 'XI TED STATES. 

sippi. lu October (if LSoiJ Governor Call of Florida inarched with 
a force of two thoiisaiid men ap;ainst the Indians of the interior. A 
division of his army overtook the enemy in the Wahoo Swamp, a 
short distance from tlie scene of Dade's massacre. A battle ensued, 
and the Indians were driven into the Everglades with considerable 
losses. Soon afterward another engagement was fought on nearly the 
same ground; and again the savages were beaten, though not deci- 
sively. The remainder of the history of the Seminole War belongs 
to the following administration. 

In the mean time the President had given a final quietus to 
the Bank of the United States. After vetoing the bill to recharter 
that institution, he conceived that the surplus funds mIucIi had accu- 
mulated in its vaults would be better distributed among the States. 
He had no warrant of law for such a step; but believing himself to 
be in the right, he did not hesitate to take the responsibility. Ac- 
cordingly, in October of 1833, he ordered the accumulated funds of 
the great bank, amounting to about ten million dollars, to be distri- 
buted among certain State banks designated for that purpose. This 
action on the part of the President was denounced by the opposition 
as a measure of incalculable mischief — unwarranted, arbitrary, dan- 
gerous. In the Senate a powerful coalition, headed by Calhoun, Clay, 
and Webster, was formed against the President; and the new ofticer> 
who had been ajtpointed to carry out his measures, were reji'cted. A 
resolution censuring his conduct was then introduced and carried; but 
a similar proposition failed in the House of Representatives. For a 
while there was a general cry of indignation, and it seemed that the 
administration would be overwhelmed ; l)ut the President, ever as 
fearless as he was self-willed and stubborn, held on his course, un- 
moved by the clamor. The resolution of censure stood upon the jour- 
nal of the Senate for four years and was then expunged from the 
record through the influence of Senator Thomas H. Benton of Mis- 
souri. The financial panic of 1836-7, following soon after the 
removal of the funds, was attributed by the o])ponents of the admin- 
istration to the President's arbitrary action and the prospective .des- 
truction of the national bank. To ti.ese strictures the adherents of 
his own party replied that the financial distress of the conntrv was 
attributable to tiie bank itself, which was declared to be an ini^titution 
too powerful and despotic to exist in a free government. The Presi- 
dent was but little concerned with the excitement: he had just en- 
tered on his second term, with Martin Van Buren for Vice-President 
instead of Mr. Calhoun. 

In 1834 the stronsj will of the chief matristrate was lirouijht into 




{433J 



JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 435 

conflict with Franoc. The American government held an old claim 
against that country for damages done to the commerce of the United 
States in the wars of Napoleon. In 1831 the French king had agreed 
to pay five million dollars for the alleged injuries; but the dilatory 
government of" France postjroned and neglected the payment until 
the President, becoming wrathful, recommended to Congress to make 
reprisals on French commerce, and at the same time directed tlij 
American minister at Paris to demand his passports and come home. 
These measures had the desired effect, and the indemnity was promptly 
paid. The government of Portugal was brought to terms in a similar 
manner. 

The cDuntry, though flourishing, was not without calamities. 
Several eminent statesmen fell by the hand of death. On the 4th of 
July, 1831, ex-President Monroe passed away. Like .Jefferson and 
Adams, he sank to rest amid the rejoicings of the national anniyer- 
sary. In the following year Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last 
surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, died at the age 
of ninety-six. A short time afterward Philip Freneau, the poet of 
the Revolution, departed from the land of the living. The patriot 
bard had reached the age of eighty. On the 24th of June, 1833, John 
Randolph of Roanoke died in Philadelphia. He was a man admired 
for his talents, dreaded for his wit and sarcasm, and respected for his 
integrity as a statesman. In 1835 Chief-Justice Marshall breathed 
his last, at the age of fourscore years ; and in the next year ex-Pres- 
ident Madison, worn with the toils of eighty-five years, passed away. 
To these losses of life must be added two great disasters to property. 
On the 16th of December, 1835, a fire broke out in the lower part* 
of New York City and laid thirty acres of buildings in ashes. Five 
hundred and twenty-nine houses and property valued at eighteen 
million dollars were consumed. Just one year afterward the Patent 
Office and Post-Office at Washington ^yere destroyed in the same 
manner. But upon the ruins of these valuable buildings, more noble 
and imposing structures were soon erected. 

Jackson's administration was signalized by the addition of two 
new States. In June of 1836 Arkansas was admitted, with an area 
of fifty-two thousand square miles, and a population of seventy thou- 
sand. In January of the following year Michigan Territory was 
organized as a State and added to the Union. The new common- 
wealth brought a pojmlation of a hundred and fifty-seven thousand, 
and an area of fifty-six thousand square miles. The administration 
was already within two months of its close. The President, follow- 
ing the example of Washington, issued a patriotic farewell address. 



436 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The dangers of discord and sectionalism among the States were set 
forth with all the masculine energy of the Jacksonian dialect. The 
people of the United States were again solemnly warned, as they had 
been by the Father of his Country, against the baleful influence of 
demagogues. The horrors of disunion were poi'trayed in the strong- 
est colors; and people of every rank and section were exhorted to 
maintain and defend the American Union as they would the last 
fortress of human liberty. This was the last of those remarkable 
public papers contributed by Andrew Jackson to the history of his 
countiy. Already, in tlic autumn cif the ])revious year, Martin Van 
Buren had been elected President. The o])posing candidate was Gen- 
eral Harrison of Ohio, who received the support of the new Whig 
party. As to the vice-presidency, no one secured a majority in the 
electoral college, and tlie choice devolved on the Senate. By tl-.at 
body Colonel Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky was duly elected. 



CHAPTER LY. 

VAN BUREN' S ADMINISTRATION, 1S37-1S41. 

MARTIN VAN BUREN, eighth President of the United States,- 
was born at Kinderhook, New York, on the 5th of December, 
1782. After receiving a limited education he became a student of 
law, and before reaching his majority was recognized as an influential 
•democratic politician. In his thirtieth year he was elected to the 
Senate of his native State ; and six years afterwards, by supplanting 
De Witt Clinton, became the recognized leader of the Democracy in 
New York. In 1821, and again in 1827, he was chosen United States 
Senator; but in the following year he resigned his office to accept the 
governorship of his native State. Ho also, in 1831, resigned his 
place as secretary of State in the first cabinet of President Jackson, 
and was appointed minister to England. But when, in Decemiter of 
the same year, his nomination was submitted to the Senate the influence 
of Vice-President Calhoun assisted by the Whig leaders, Clay and 
Webster, procured the rejection of the appointment. Mr. Van Buren 
i-eturned from his unfulfilled mission ; became the candidate for the 
vice-presidency, and M'as elected in the fall of 1832. Four years 
later he was called by the voice of the powerful party to which he be- 
longed, to succeed General Jackson in the highest office of the nation. 



T'.l.V BUR£yS ADMINISTRATION. 437 

One of the first duties of the new adininistratiou was to finish the 
Seminole War. In the beginning of 18o7 the command of the army in 
Florida was transferred from General Seott to General Jessup. In the 
following fall Osceola came to the American camp with a flag of truce; 
but he was suspected of treachery, seized, and sent a prisoner to Fort 
Moultrie, where he died in 1838. The Seminoles, though disheartened 
by the loss of their chief, continued the war. In December Colonel 
Zachary Taylor, with a force of over a thousand men, marched into the 
Evei-glades of Florida, determined to fight the savages in their lairs. 
After unjiaralleled sufferings he overtook them, on Christmas day, near 
Lake Okeechobee. A hard battle was fought, and the Indians were de- 
feated, but not until a hundred and thirty-nine of the whites had fallen. 
For more than a year Taylor continued to hunt the Red men through the 
swamps. In 1839 the chiefs sent in their submission and signed a treaty; 
but their removal to the "West was made with much reluctance and delay. 

In the first year of Van Buren's administration the country was afflicted 
with a monetary panic of the most serious character. The preceding years 
had been a time of great prosperity. The national debt was entirely liqui- 
dated, and a surplus of nearly forty million dollars had accumulated in 
the treasury of the United States. By act of Congress this vast sum had 
been distributed among the several States. Owing to the abundance of 
money, speculations of all sorts grew rife. The credit system pervaded every 
department of business. The banks of the country were suddenly multi- 
plied to nearly seven hundred. Vast issues of irredeemable paper money 
stimulated the speculative spirit and increased the opportunities for fraud. 

The bills of these unsound banks were receivable at the land-offices ; 
and settlers and speculators made a rush to secure the public lands wiiile 
money was plentiful. Seeing that in receiving such an unsound currency 
in exchange for the national domain the government was likely to be 
<lefrauded out of millions. President Jackson had issued an order called 
THE Specie Circular, by which the land-agents were directed hence- 
forth to receive nothing but coin in payment for the lands. The effects 
of this circular came upon the nation in the first year of Van Buren's 
administration. The interests of the government had been secured by 
Jackson's vigilance ; but the business of the country was prostrated by 
the shock. The banks suspended specie payment. INIercantile houses 
failed ; and disaster swept through every avenue of trade. During the 
months of March and xVpril, 1837, the failures in Xew Yoric and New 
Orleans amounted to about a hundred and fifty million dollars. A com- 
mittee of business men from the former city besought the President to 
rescind the specie circular and to call a special session of Congress. The 



438 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

former request was refused and the latter complied with; but not until 
the executive was driven by the distresses of the country. 

When Congress convened in the following September, several measures 
of relief were brought forward. A bill authorizing the issue of treasury 
notes, not to exceed ten millions of dollars, was passed as a temporary ex- 
pedient. More important by far was the measure proposed by the Presi- 
dent and brought before Congress under the name of the Indepexdeni 
Treasury Bill. By the provisions of this remarkable project the 
public funds of the nation were to be kept on deposit in a treasuiy to be 
established for that special purpose. It was argued by Mr. Van Buren 
and his friends that the surplus money of the country would dril't into 
the independent treasury and lodge there ; and that by this means the 
speculative mania would be effectually checked; for extensive speculations 
could not be carried on without an abundant currency. It was in the 
nature of the President's plan to separate the business of the United States 
from the general business of the country. 

The independent treasury bill was passed by the Senate, but de- 
feated in the House of Representatives. But in the following regular 
session of Congress the bill was again brought for\\ard and adopted. In 
the mean time, the business of the coimtry had in a measure revived. 
During the year 1838 most of the banks resumed specie payments. 
Commercial affairs assumed their wonted aspect ; but trade was less 
vigorous than before. Enterprises of all kinds languished, and the peo]>le 
were greatly disheartened. Discontent prevailed ; and the administration 
was blamed with everything. 

In the latter j)art of 1837 there was an insurrection in Canada. A 
portion of the peojile, dissatisfied with the British government, broke out 
in revolt and attempted to establish their independence. The insurgents 
found nnich sympathy and encouragement in the United States, especially 
in New York. From that State a party of seven hundred men, taking 
arms, seized and fjrtified Navy Island, in the Niagara River. The 
loyalists of Canada attempted to capture the place, and failed. They suc- 
ceeded, however, in firing the Caroline, the supply-ship of the adven- 
turers, cut her moorings, and sent the burning vessel over Niagara Falls. 
These events created considerable excitement, and the peaceful relations 
of the United States and Great Britain were endangered. But the Presi- 
<lent issued a proclamation of neutrality, fbrl)idding interference with the 
affairs of Canada ; and General Wool was sent to the Niagara frontier 
with a sufficient force to quell the disturbance and j>unish the disturbers. 
The New York insurgents on Navy Island were obliged to surrender, 
and order was soon restored. 



VA X B UREN'S ADMIN IS Til A TIOX. 439 

Hardly had the excitement attendant upon the Canadian troubles 
subsided, before the question was raised as to Van Buren's successor 
in the presidency. The canvass began early and in a very bitter 
spirit. The measures of the administration had been of such a nature 
as to call forth the fiercest political controversy. The Whigs, ani- 
mated with the hope of victory, met in national convention on the 4th 
jf December, 1839, and again nominated General Harrison as their 
leader in the coming contest. On the Democratic side Mr. Van Buren 
had no competitor; but the unanimity of his party could hardly com- 
pensate for his misfortunes and blunders. The canvass was the most 
■exciting in the political history of the country. The President was 
blamed with every thing. The financial distress was laid at his door. 
Extravagance, bribery, corruption — every thing bad was charged upon 
him. Men of business advertised to pay six dollars a barrel for flour 
if Harrison should be elected; three dollars a barrel if Van Buren 
should be successful. The "Whig orators tossed about the luckless ad- 
ministration through all the figures and forms of speech; and the 
President himself was shot at with every sort of dart that partisan wit 
and malice could invent. The enthusiasm in the ranks of the oppo- 
sition rose higher and higher; and the result was the defeat of the 
Democrats in every State except Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, 
New Hampshire, Virginia, and South Carolina. The electoral votes 
•of these States — numbering sixty — were given to Van Buren; and 
the remainder, amounting to two hundred and thirty-four, were cast 
for General Harrison. After controlling the destinies of the govern- 
ment for nearly forty years, the Democratic party was temporarily 
routed. For Vice-President, John Tyler of Virginia was chosen. 

In the last year of Van Buren's administration was completed the 
sixth census of the United States. The tables were, as usual, replete 
with the evidences of growth and progress. The national revenues 
for the year 1840 amounted to nearly twenty millions of dollars. Dur- 
"'iig the last ten vears the center of population had moved westward 
ilong the thirty-ninth parallel of latitude from the South Fork of 
the Potomac to Clarksburg, West Virginia — a distance of fifty-five 
miles. The area of the United States now actually inhabited, amounted 
to eight hundred and seven thousand square miles, being an increase 
in ten years of twenty-seven and six-tenths per cent. The frontier 
line, circumscribing the population, passed through Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin, Iowa, and the western borders of Missouri, Arkansas, and Loui- 
siana — a di.stance of three thousand three hundred miles. The popu- 
lation had reached the aggregate of seventeen million souls, being an 



410 HISTORY Of THE UNITED STATES. 

increase since 1830 of mtire than six millions. It M'as found from tiie 
tables that eleven-twelfths of the pet)ple lived outside of the larger 
cities and towns, showing the strong prejionderanee of the agrienltural 
over the manufacturing and commercial interest. One of the most 
interesting lessons of the census was found in the fact that tlie wonderful 
growth of the United States was in extent and area, and not in rtccK- 
mulation — in the spread of civilization rather than in intensify. For, 
since 1830, the average jiopulation of the country had not increased 
by so much as one ■person to the scpiare mile! 

The administration of Van Buren has generally been reckoned 
as unsuccessful and inglorious. But he and his times were unfortu- 
nate rather than bad. He was the victim of all the evils which fol- 
lowed hard upon the relaxation of the Jacksouian methods of govern- 
ment. He had neither the will nor the disposition to rule as his 
predecessor had done; nor were the people and their representatives 
any longer in the humor to suffer that sort of government. The pe- 
riod was unheroic : it was the ebb-tide between the belligerent excite- 
ments of 1832 and the war with Mexico. The financial panic added 
opprobrium to the popular estimate of imbecility in the government. 
" The administration of Van Buren," said a bitter satirist, " is like 
a parenthesis : it may be read in a low tone of voice or altogether 
omitted withoid injurlinj the sense!" But the satire lacked one essen- 
tial (piality — truth. 



CHAPTER LVI. 
ADMINISTRATIOXS OF HARRISON AND TYLER, mi-1845. 

THE new President was a Virginian by birth, and tiie adojited son 
of Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution. He was a grad- 
uate of Hampden-Sidney College, and afterward a student of medicine. 
Attracted by the military life, he entered the army of St. Clair ; was 
raj)idly promoted ; became lieutenant-governor and then governor of 
Indiana Territory, which office he filled with great ability. His mil- 
itary career in the North-west has already been narrated. He was 
inaugurated President on the 4th of March, 1841, and began his 
duties by issuing a call for a special session of Congress to consider 
"sundry important matters connected with the finances of the coun- 
trv." An able cabinet was organized, at the head of which was Dan- 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF HARRISON AND TYLER. 441 

iel Webster as secretary of stuto. Evcrytliing promised well for the 
new Whig administration ; bnt before Congress could convene, the 
venerable President, bending under the weight of sixty-eight years, 
fell sick, and died just one month after his inauguration. It was 
the first time that such a calamity had befallen the American peo- 
ple. Profound and universal grief was manifested at the sad event 
On the 6th of April Mr. Tyler took the oath of office, and became 
President of the United States. 

He was a statesman of considerable distinction ; a native of Vir- 
ginia; a graduate of William and ^Nlary College. At an early age he 
left the profession of law to enter public life; was chosen a member 
of Congress; and in 1825 was elected governor of Virginia. From 
tliat position he was sent to the Senate of the United States; and now 
at the age of fifty-one was called to the presidency. He had been 
])ut upon the ticket with General Harrison through motives of expe- 
diency ; for although a Whig in political principles, he was k)toiim to 
be lioM'de to the United States Bank. And this hostility was soon to be 
manifested in a remarkable manner. 

The special session of Congress continued from May till Septem- 
ber. One of the first measures proposed and carried was the repeal 
of the independent treasury bill. A general bankrupt law was tiien 
brought forward and passed, by which a great number of insolvent 
business men were relieved from the disabilities of debt. The next 
measure — a favorite scheme of the Whiu;s — was the rechartering of 
the bank of the United States. The old charter liad expired in 1836; 
but the bank had continued in operation under the authority of the 
State of Pennsylvania. Xow a bill to recharter was brought forward 
and passed. The President interposed his veto. Again the bill was 
presented, in a modified form, and received the assent of both Houses, 
only to be rejected by the executive. By this action a final rupture 
was produced between the President and the party which had elected 
him. The indignant Whigs, baffled by a want of a two-thirds major- 
ity in Congress, turned upon him with storms of invective. All the 
members of the cabinet except Mr. Webster resigned ; and he retained 
his place only because of a pending difficulty with Great Britain. 

The difficulty was in the nature of a dispute about the north- 
eastern boundary of the United States. The territorial limit of the 
country in that direction, not having been clearly defined by the treaty 
of 1783, had been one of the points under discussion by the commis- 
sioners at Ghent in 1814. But like other matters presented for adju- 
dication before that pi^ilite and easily satisfied congress, the boundary 



442 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

question had been jwstponed rather tlum settled. It was then agre\ d, 
however, to refer the establishment of the entire line between the 
United States and Canada to the decision of three eommissioners to be 
jointly constituted by the two governments. The first of these bodies 
accomplished its work successfully by awarding to the United States 
the islands in the Bay of Passanuiquoddy. The third coniinission 
also performed its duty by establishing the true boundary line from 
the intersection of the forty-fifth parallel of latitude witli the River 
St. Lawrence to the western point of I^ake Huron. To the second 
commission was assigned the more difficult task of settling the bound- 
ary from the Atlantic to tlie St. Lawrence ; and this work they failed 
to accomplish. For nearly twenty-five years the limit of the United 
States on the northeast remained in controversy; and at times the dif- 
ficulty became so serious as to endanger the peace of the two nations. 
Finally the whole matter at issue was referred to Lord Ashburton, 
acting on the part of Great Britain, and Mr. Webster, the American 
Secretary of State. After an able discussion of all the points in dis- 
pute, the boundary was definitely established as fi)llows: From tlie 
mouth of the River St. Croix ascending that stream to its western 
fountain; from that fountain due north to the St. John's; tlience with 
tliat river to its source on the watershed between the Atlantic and 
the St. Lawrence; thence in a southwesterly direction along the crest 
of the highlands to the northwestern source of the Connecticut; and 
down that stream to and along the forty-fifth parallel to the St. Law- 
rence. The work of the commissioners extended also to the estab- 
lishment of the boundary from the western point of Ijake Huron 
through Lake Superior to the northwestern extremity of the Lake of 
Woods, thence — confirming the treaty of October, 1818, — southward 
to the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, and thence with that parallel to 
the Rocky Mountains. This important setblement, known as the Web- 
STER-AsHBURTON Tre-^ty, Mas Completed on the 9th of August, 1842, 
and wa.-; ratified by the Senate on the 20th of the .same month. 

In the next year the country was vexed with a domestic trouble. 
For nearly two centuries the government of Rhode Island had been 
administered under a charter granted by Charles II. By the terms 
of tiiat ancient instrument the right of suffrage was restricted to those 
who held a certain amount of property. There were other clauses re- 
pugnant to the spirit of republicanism ; and a proposition was made 
to change the constitution of the State. On that issue the people of 
Rhode Island were nearly unanimous ; but in respect to the manner 
of abrogating the old charter there was a serious division. One fac- 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF HARRISON AND TYLER. 



442 



tioa, called the " law and order party," proceeding in accordance with 
the former constitution, chose Samuel W. King as governor. The 
other faction, called the " suffrage party," acting in an irregular way, 
elected Thomas W. Dorr. In May of 1842 both parties met and or- 
ganized their rival governments. 

The " law and order party " now undertook to suppress the faction 
of Dorr. The latter resisted and made an attempt to capture the 
State arsenal. But the militia, under the direction of King's officers, 
drove the assailants away. A month later the adherents of Dorr again 
appeared in arms, but were dispersed by the troops of the United 
States. Dorr fled from Rhode Island; returned soon afterward, was 
caught, tried for treason, convicted, and sentenced to imprisonment for 
life. He was then offered pardon on condition of taking an oath of 
allegiance. This he stubbornly refused to do; and in June of 1845 
obtained his liberty without conditions. 

The year 1842 was noted for the completion of the Bunker 
Hill Monument. No enter])rise of a similar character had, in the 
whole history of the country, called forth so much patriotic enthusiasm. 
The foundation of the noble struc- 
ture was laid on the 17th of June, 
1825, the corner-stone being put into 
its place by the venerable Iva Fay- 
ette. Daniel Webster, then voung 
in years and fame, delivered the ora- 
tion of the day, while two hundred 
Revolutionary veterans — forty of 
them survivors of the battle Ibught 
on tluit li ill-crest just fifty years be- 
fore — gathered with the throng to 
hear him. But the work of erection 
went on slowly. More than a hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars were 
expended, and seventeen years 
elapsed before the grand shaft — com- 
memorative of the heroes living: and 
dead — was finished. At last the 
work was done, and the mighty column of Quincy graiiite, thirty-one 
feet square at the base and two hundred and twenty-one feet in height, 
stood out sublimely against the clouds and sky. It was deemed fit- 
ting, however, to postjjone the dedication until the next anniversary 
of the battle ; and preparations were made accordingly. On the 17th 




IU\NK1,1; HILL .Mm^lWIL.N I , 



444 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of June, 1843, an iinnion.se multitude of people — iuehuling most of 
the Revolutionary soldiers who had not yet fallen — gathered from all 
parts of the Republie to witness the imposing eereniony. Mr. Web- 
ster, now full of years and honors, was chosen to deliver the address of 
dedication — a duty which he performed in a manner so touching and 
eloquent as to add new luster to his fame as an orator. The celebra- 
tion was concluded with a pulilic dinner given in Faneuil Hall, the 
cradle of American liberty. 

In the latter part of Tyler's administration the State of Xew 
York was the scene of a serious social disturl)ance. Until tlie year 
1840 the descendants of Van Rensselaer, one (if the old Dutch pa- 
troons of New Xetherland, had held a claim on certain lands in the 
counties of Rensselaer, Columl)ia and Delaware. In liquidation of 
this claim they had continued to receive from the farmers certain 
trifling rents. At last the farmers grew tired of the payment, and 
rebelled. From 1840 until 1844 the question was frequently dis- 
cus.sed in the New York legislature ; but no satis&ctory .settlement 
was reached. In the latter year the anti-rent party became so bold 
as to coat with tar and feathers tho.se of their fellow-tenants who 
made the payments. Officers were sent to apprehend the rioters; 
and them thev killed. Time and again the authorities of the State 
were invoked to (|Ucll the disturbers; and tiie ([uestion in dispute has 
never been permanently .settled. 

Of a diffi'rent sort was the difficulty with the Mormons, who now 
began to play a jxirt in the history of the country. Under the leader- 
ship of their prophet, Jo.seph Smith, they made their first important set- 
tlement in Jack.son county, Mi.s.sauri. Here their numbers increased to 
fully fifteen hundred ; and they began to say that the great West wa.s 
to be their inheritance. Not liking their neigiibors or their practices, 
the people of Missouri determined to be rid of tlieni. As soon as op- 
portunity offered, the militia was called out, and the Mormons were 
obliged to leave the State. In' the spring of 1839 they cros.sed the 
Missi.ssippi into Illinoi.s, and on a high blufl' overlooking the rivei 
laid out a city which they called Nauvoo, meaning the Beaufifid. 
Here thev built a splendid temple. Other Mormons from different 
parts of the Union and from Europe canie to join the community, 
imtil tiie number was swelled to ten thousand. Again popular sus- 
picion was aroused against them. Under the administration of Smith, 
laws were enacted contrary to the statute of Illinois. The people 
charged the Mormons with the commission of certain thefts and mur- 
ders; and it was believed that the courts in the neighborhood of Nau- 
voo would be powerless to convict the criminals. 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF HARRISON AND TYLER. 445 

In the midst of imicli excitement Smith and his brother were ar- 
rested, taken to Carthage, and lodged in jail. On the 27th of June, 1844, 
a mob gathered, broke open the jail doors and killed the prisoners. Dur- 
ing the rest of the summer there were many scenes of violence. In 1845 
the charter of Nauvoo was annulled by the legislature of Illinois. Most 
of the Mormons gave up in despair and resolved to exile themselves be- 
yond the limits of civilization. In 1846 they began their march to the 
far West. In September Nauvoo was cannonaded for three days, and the 
remnant of inhabitants driven to join their companions at Council BluiFs. 
Thence they dragged themselves wearily westward; crossed the Rocky 
Mountains; reached the basin of the Great Salt Lake, and founded Utah 
Territory. 

Meanwhile, a great agitation had arisen in the country in regard to 
the republic of Texas. From 1821 to 1836 this vast territory lying be- 
tween Louisiana and Mexico, had been a province of the latter country. 
For a long time it had been the policy of Spain and Mexico to keep 
Texas uninhabited, in order that the vigorous race of Americans might 
not encroach on the Mexican borders. At last, however, a large land- 
grant was made to Moses Austin of Connecticut, on condition that he 
would settle three hundred American families within the limits of his do- 
main. Afterward the grant was confirmed to his son Stephen, with the 
privilege of establishing five hundred additional families of immigrants. 
Thus the foundation of Texas was laid by people of the English race. 

Owing to the oj^pressive jiolicy adopted by Mexico, the Texans, 
in the year 1835, raised the standard of rebellion. Many adventurers 
and some heroes from the LTnited States flocked to tlicir aid. In the 
first battle, fought at Gonzales, a thousand Mexicans were defeated by 
a Texan force numbering five hundred. On the 6th of March, 1836, 
a Texan fort, called the Alamo, was surrounded by a Mexican army 
of eight thousand, commanded by President Santa Anna. The feeble 
garrison was overpowered and massacred under circumstances of great 
atrocity. The daring David Crocket, an ex-congressman of Tennessee, 
and a famous hunter, was one of the victims of the butchery. In the 
next month was fought the decisive battle of San Jacinto, which gave 
to Texas her freedom. The independence of the new State was ao' 
knowledged by the United States, Great Britain and France. 

As soon as the peo])le of Texas had thrown off the Mexican yoke 
they asked to be admitted into the Union. At first the proposition 
was declined by President Van Buren, who feared a war with Mex- 
ico. In the last year of Tyler's administration the cpiestion of annex- 
ation was again agitated. The population of Texas had increased to 
more tlian two liundred thousand souls. Tlie territory embraced an 



44C 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



^■^A 



area of two hundred and thirty-seven thousand square miles — a do- 
main more than five times as large as the State of Pennsylvania. It 
was like annexing an empire. The proposition to admit Texas into 
the Union was the great (piestion on which the people divided in 

the presidential elec- 
tion of 1844. The 
annexation wa:^ fa 
vored by the Demo- 
crats and opposed by 
the Whigs. The 
parties were equally 
matched in sti-ength; 
and the contest .sur- 
passed in excitement 
anything which liad 
been known in Amer- 
ican ])olitics. James 
K. Polk of Tenncs.see 
was put forward as 
the Democratic can- 
didate, while the 
Whigs chose their 
favorite leader, Hen- 
pRoFJissoR MORSE. • Ty CUiy. Tlic former 

was elected, and the 
hope of the latter to reacli tlie presidency was forever eclipsed. For 
Vice-President, George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania was chosen. 

The convention by which Mr. Polk was nominated was held at 
Baltimore. On the 29th of May, 1844, the news of the nomination was 
sent to Washington by the Magnetic Telegr.\ph. It was the first 
despatch ever so transmitted ; and the event marks an era in the his- 
tory of civilization. The inventor of the telegraph, which has proved 
so great a blessing to mankind, was Professor Samuel F. B. Morse 
of Massachusetts. The magnetic principle on which the invcntiot 
depends had been known since 1774 ; but Professor Morse was the first 
to aj)ply that principle for the benefit of men. He began his experi- 
ments in 1832: and five years afterward succeeded in obtaining a 
patent on his invention. Then followed another long delay ; and it 
was not until the last day of the session in 1843 that he procured 
fron\ Congress an appropriation of thirty thousand dollars. With 
that appropriation was constructed between Baltimore and Wash- 




POLK'S ADMINISTRATIOX 447 

ington the first telegraphic line in tlie world. Perhaps no other 
invention has exercised a more Ijeneficent influence on the welfare 
and happiness of the human race. 

When Congress convened in Decemlier of 1S44, the proposition 
to admit Texas into the Union was formally brought forward. Dur- 
ing the winter the question was frequently debated ; and on the 1st 
of March — only three days before Tyler's retirement from the presi- 
dency — the bill of annexation was adopted. The President imme- 
diately gave his assent; and the Lone Star took its place in the 
constellation of the States. On the day before the inauguration of 
Mr. Polk bills for the admission of Florida and Iowa were also 
signed; but the latter State — the twenty-ninth member of the Amer- 
ican X^nion — was not formally admitted until the following year. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

POLJC'S ADMINISTRATION, AND THE MEXICAN WAR, 1S45-184S. 

PRESIDENT POLK was a native of North Carolina. In boyhood 
he removed with his father to Tennessee ; entered the legislature 
of the State ; and was then elected to Congress, where he served as 
member or speaker for fourteen years. In 1839 he was chosen gov- 
ernor of Tennessee, and from that position was called, at the early 
age of forty-nine, to the presidential chair. At the head of the new 
cabinet was placed James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. It was an of- 
fice requiring high abilities; for the threatening question with Mexico 
came at once to a crisis. As soon as the resolution to annex Texas 
■was adopted by Congress, Almonte, the Mexican minister at Washing- 
ton, demanded his passports and left the country. 

On the 4th of July, 1845, the Texan legislature ratified the act 
of annexation ; and the union was completed. Knowing the warlike 
determination of Mexico, the authorities of Texas sent an immediate 
and urgent request to the President to despatch an army for their pro- 
tection. Accordingly, General Zachary Taylor was ordered to march 
from Camp Jessup, in Western Louisiana, and occupy Texas. The 
real question at issue between that State and Mexico was concerning 
boundaries. The foundation of the difficulty had been laid as early as 



448 



HISTORY OF THE UMTED STATES. 



the Mex'u'aii revolution of 1821. Ey that event Mexieo had achieved 
her inde[)endenee of Spain, and in rearranging her civil administra- 
tion had united C'oahuila and Texas — the two frontier States east of 
the Ivio Grande — under one provincial government. Such was the 
condition of uftliirs at the time of the Texan rebellion of 1836. Texas, 
being successful in her struggle with Mexico, naturally claimed that 
her own independence carried with it the indei)enden?e of Coahuila, 
and that, therefore, the territory of the latter province became an in- 
tegral part of the new Texan republic. This theory the joint legis- 
lature of Texas and Coahuila made haste to put into statutory form 
by a resolution of December 19th, 1836. Mexico, however, insisted 
that Texas only, and not C^oahuila, had revolted against her authority, 
and that, therefore, the latter province, was still rightfully a part of 
the Mexican dominions, Thus it came to ])ass that Texas — now a 
State in the American Union — claimed the Rio Grande as her west- 
ern limit, while Mexico was de- 
termined to have the Nueces as 
the separating line. The ter- 
ritory between the two rivers 
was in disjnite. The govern- 
ment of the United States made 
a proposal to settle the contro- 
versy by negotiation, but the 
authorities of Mexico scornfully 
refused. This refusal was con- 
strued l)y the Americans as a 
virtual acknowledgment that 
the Mexicans were in the 
wrong, and that the Rio Grande 
might justly be claimed as the 
boundary. Instructions were 
accordingly sent to General 
Tavlor to advance his army as 

" , , . . " TEXAS AND COAHIULA, ISJ.'i. 

near to that river as circum- 
stances would warrant. Under these orders he moved forward to Cor- 
pus Christi, at the mouth of the Nueces, established a cami), and by 
the beginning of November, 1845, had concentrated a force of between 
four and tive thousand men. 

In the following January General Taylor was ordered to advance 
to the Rio Grande. It was known that the Mexican government had 
resolved not to receive the American ambassador sent thither to ne- 




FOLIC S A D MINIS TBA TION. 



449 




SCENE OFTAYLOR S CAMPAIUN, 
1846-47. 



gotiate a settlement. It had also transpired tliat an army of Mexicans 
wus gathering in the northern part of the country for the invasion of 
Texas, or, at any rate, for the occupation of the 
disputed territory. On the 8th of March the 
American army began the advance from Corpus 
Christi to Point Isabel, on the gulf. At that 
place General Taylor established a depot of sup- 
plies, and then pressed forward to the Rio 
Grande. Arriving at the river a few miles 
above the mouth, he took his station opposite 
Matamoras and hastily erected a fortress, after- 
ward named Fort Brown. 

On the 26th of April, General Arista, who 
had arrived at Matamoras on the previous day and assumed com- 
mand of the Mexican forces on the frontier, notified General Tay- 
lor that hostilities had begun. On the same day a company of Amer- 
ican dragoons, commanded by Captain Thornton, was attacked by a 
body of Mexicans, east of the Rio Grande, and after losing sixteen 
men in killed and wounded, was obliged to surrender. This was the 
first bloodshed of the war. At the same time large bodies of Mexi- 
cans — marauders, infantry, and cavalry — crossed the Rio prande be- 
low Fort Brown and threatened the American lines of communication. 
General Taylor, alarmed lest the Mexicans should make a circuit and 
capture the stores at Point Isabel, hastened to that place and strength- 
ened the defences. The fort opposite Matamoras was left under the 
command of Major Brown M'itli a garrison of three hundred men. Tlie 
withdrawal of the American general with the greater part of his forces 
was witnessed by the Mexicans in Matamoras, who, mistaking the 
movement for a retreat inspired by fear, were in great jubilation. 
The Eepuhlican Monitor, a Mexican newspaper of Matamoras, pub- 
lished on the following day a flaming editorial, declaring that the 
cowardly invaders of Mexico had fled like a gang of polti'oons to the 
8ea-coast and were using every exertion to get out of the country be- 
fore the thunderbolt of Mexican vengeance should smite them. Ar- 
ista himself was confident that the Americans, becoming alarmed at 
their exposed position, had shrunk from the conflict and that it was only 
necessary for him to bombard Fort Brown in order to end the war. 

As soon as his supplies at Point Isabel were deemed secure, 
General Taylor set out with a provision-train and an army of more 
than two thousand men to return to Fort Brown. Meanwhile, the 
Mexicans to the number of six thousand had crossed the Rio Grande 

29 



450 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and taken a strong position at Palo Alto, directly in Taylor's route. At 

noon on the 8tli of May the Americans came in sight and immediately 

> V joined battle. After a severe engagement of five hours' duration the 

. "^J Mexicans were driven from the field, with the loss of a hundred men. 

\y The American artillery was served with signal effect; while the fighting 

' of the enemy was clumsy and ineffectual. Only four Americans were 

killed and forty wounded ; but among the former was the gallant and 

much-lamented Major Ringgold of the artillery. 

On the following day General Taylor resumed his march in tlie 
direction of Fort Bi'own. When within three miles of that place, he 
again came upon the Mexicans, who had rallied in full force to dispute 
his advance. They had selected for their second battle-field a place 
called Resaca do la Palma. Here an old river-bed, dry and overgrown 
with cactus, crossed the road leading to the fort. The enemy's artilleiy 
was well posted antl better served than on the previous day. The Ameri- 
can lines were severely galled until the brave Captain May with his regi- 
ment of dragoons charged through a storm of grape-shot, rode over the 
Mexican batteries, sabred the gunners, and captured La Vega, the com- 
manding general. The Mexicans, abandoning their guns and flinging 
away their accoutrements, fled in a general rout. Before nightfall they 
had put the Rio Grande between themselves and the invincible Americans. 
On reaching Fort Brown, General Taylor found that during his absence 
the place had been constantly bombarded by the guns of IMatamoras. 
But a brave defence had been made, which cost, with other losses and 
suffering, the life of Major Brown, the commandant. Such was the be- 
ginning of a war in which Mexico exjiericnced a long list of humiliating 
defeats. 

When the news of the battles on the Rio Grande was borne through 
the Union, the war spirit was everywliere aroused. Party dissensions 
were luished into silence. The President, in a message to Congress, noti- 
fied that body that the lawless soldiery of Mexico had shed the blood of 
American citizens on American soil. On tin 11th of May, 1846, Con- 
gress promptly responded with a declaration that war already existed by 
the act of the Mexican go\ernment. The President was authorized to 
accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers, and ten million dollars 
vcere placed at his disposal. War meetings were held in all parts of the 
country, and within a few weeks nearly three hundred thousand men 
rushed forward to enter the ranks. A grand invasion of Mexico was 
plainied by General Scott. The American forces were organized in three 
divisions : the Army of the West, under General Kearney, to cross 
thu Rocky Mouutaiu.« and conquer the northern Mexican provinces ; 



POLK'S ADMINISTRATION. 451 

THE Army of the Centre, under General Scott as commander-in- 
chief, to niaroh from the gulf coast into the heart of the enemy's country , 
THE Army op Occupation, commanded by General Taylor, to subdut: 
and hold the districts on the Rio Grande. 

The work of mustering the American troops was entrusted to Gen» 
eral Wool. By the middle of summer he succeeded in despatching tc 
General Taylor a force of nine thousand men. He then established hiL 
camp at San Antonio, Texas, and from that point prepared the gathering 
recruits for the field. Meanwhile, Taylor had resumed active operations 
on the Rio Grande. Ten days after the battle of Resaca de la Palma he 
crossed from Fort Brown and captured Matamoras. Soon afterward he 
began his march up the right bank of the river and into the interior. 
The Mexicans, grown wary of their antagonist, fell back and took post at 
the fortified town of Monterey. To capture that place was the next object 
of the campaign ; but the American army M'as feeble in numbers, and 
General Taylor was obliged to tarry near the Rio Grande until the latter 
part of August. By that time reinforcements had arrived, increasing his 
numbers to six thousand six hundred. With this force the march against 
Monterey was begun ; and on the 19th of September the town, defended 
by fully ten thousand troops, under command of Ampudia, was reached 
and invested. 

The siege was pressed with great vigor. On the 21st of the month 
several assaults were made, in which the Americans, led by General 
AYorth, carried the fortified heights in the rear of the town. In that part 
of the defences only the bishop's palace — a strong building of stone — re- 
mained ; and this was taken by storm on the following day. On the 
morning of the 23d the city was successfully assaulted in front by Gen- 
erals Quitman and Butler. In the face of a tremendous cannonade and 
an incessant tempest of musket-balls discharged from the house-tops and 
alleys, the American storming-parties charged resistlessly into the town. 
They reached the Grand Plaza, or public square. They hoisted the vic- 
torious flag of the Union. They turned upon the buildings where the 
Mexicans were concealed ; broke open the doors ; charged up dark stair- 
ways to the flat roofs of the houses ; and drove the terrified enemy to an 
ignominious surrender. The honors of war were granted to Ampudia^ 
who evacuated the city and retired toward the capital. The storming of 
Monterey was a signal victory, gained against great superiority of num- 
bers and advantage of position. 

After the capitulation General Taylor received notice that overtures 
of peace were about to be made by the Mexican government. He there- 
fore agreed to an armistice of eight weeks, during which time neither party 



452 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

should renew hostilities. In reality the Mexicans had no thought of 
peace. They employed the whole interval in warlike jireparations. The 
famous general Santa Anna was called home from his exile at Havana 
to take the presidency of the country. In the course of the autumn a 
Mexican army of twenty thousand men was raised and sent into the field. 
In the mean time, the armistice had expired ; and General Taylor, acting 
under ordere of the War Department, again moved forward. On the 15th 
of November, the town of Saltillo, seventy miles south-west from ISIon- 
terey, was captured by the American advance under General Worth. In 
the following month, Victoria, a city in the province of Tamaulipas, was 
taken by the command of General Patterson. To that place General 
Butler advanced from JNIonterey on the march against Tampico, on the 
river Panuco. At Victoria, however, he learned that Tampico had 
already capitulated to Captain Conner, commander of an American 
flotilla. Meanwhile, General Wool, advancing with strong reinforce- 
ments from San Antonio, entered Mexico, and took a position within sup- 
porting distance of Monterey. It was at this juncture that General Scott 
arrived and assnmed the command of the American forces. 

The Army of the ^^\'St had not been idle. In June of 1846 
General Kearney set out from Fort Leavenworth, on tlie Missouri, for 
the conquest of New Mexico and California. After a long and wearisome 
march he reached Santa Fe, and on the 18th of August captured and gar- 
risoned the city. The whole of New Mexico submitted without further 
resistance. With a body of four hundred dragoons Kearney then con- 
tinued his march toward the Pacific coast. At the distance of three luui- 
dred miles from Santa Fe he was met bv the famous Kit Carson, who 
brought intelligence from the far West that California had already been 
subdued. Kearney accordingly sent back three-fourths of his forces, and 
■with a party of only a hundred men made his way to the Pacific. On 
that far-off coast stirring events had happened. 

For four years Colonel .John C. Fremont had been exploring the 
country west of the Rocky Mountains. He liad hoisted the American 
dag on the highest peak of the great range, and then directed his route by 
Salt Lake to Oregon. Turning southward into California, he received 
despatches informing him of the impending war with Mexico. Deter- 
mined to strike a blow for his country, lie urged the people of California, 
many of whom were Americans, 'to declare their independence. The 
hardy frontiersmen of the Sacramento valley flocked to his standard; and 
a campaign was at once begun to overthrow the Mexican authority. In 
several petty engagements the Americans were victorious over greatly 
superior numbers. Meanwhile, Commodore Sloat, commanding an 




^iLMiiiLiiii^iiMieliyiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiyiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiu 



POLK'S ADMINISTRATION. 453 

American fleet, had captured the town of Monterey, on the coast, eighty 
miles soutii of San Francisco. A few days afterward Commodore Stock- 
ton took command of the Pacific squadron and made himself master of 
San Diego. Hearing of these events, Fremont raised the flag of the 
United States instead of the flag of California, and joined the naval com- 
manders in a successful movement against Los Angelos, which was taken 
without opposition. Before the end of summer the whole of the vast 
province was subdued. In November General Kearney arrived with his 
company and joined Fremont and Stockton. About a month later the 
Mexicans rose in rebellion, but were defeated on the 8th of January, 
1847, in the decisive battle of San Gabriel, by which the authority of the 
United States was completely established. A country large enough for 
an empire had been conquered by a handful of resolute men. 

In ths mean time, Colonel Doniphan, who had been left by Kear- 
ney in connnand of New IVIexIco, had made one of the most brilliant 
movements of the war. With a body of seven hundred fearless men he 
began a march through the enemy's country from Santa F6 to Saltillo, a 
distance of more than eight hundred miles. Reaching the Eio Grande on 
Christmas day, he fought and gained the battle of Bracito ; then, crossing 
the river, captured El Paso, and in two months pressed his way to within 
twenty miles of Chihuahua. On the l)an]<s of Sacramento Creek he met 
the Mexicans in overwhelming numbers, and on tiie 28th of February 
completely routed them. He then marched unopposed into Cliiliuahua — 
a city of more than forty thousand inhabitants — and finally reached the 
division of General Wool in safety. 

As soon as General Scott arrived in IMcxico ho ordered a large part 
of the Army of Occupation to join him on the gulf for the conquest of the 
capital. By the withdrawal of these troops from the divisions of Taylor 
and Wool these officers were left in a very exposed and critical condition ; 
ibr Santa Anna was rapidly advancing against them with an army of 
twenty thousand men. To resist this tremendous array General Taylor 
was able to concentrate at Saltillo a force numbering not more than six 
thousand ; and after putting sufficient garrisons in that town and Mon- 
terey, his effective forces amounted to but four thousand eight hundred. 
With this small but resolute army he marched boldly out to meet the 
Mexican host. A favorable battle-ground was chosen at Buena Vista, 
four miles soutli of Saltillo. Here Taylor posted his troops and awaited 
the enemy. 

On the 22d of February the Mexicans, twenty thousand strong, 
came pouring through the gorges and over the hills from the direction of 
San Luis Potosi. Santa Anna demanded a surrender, and was met with 



454 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



defiance. On the morning of tlie 23cl tlie battle liegan witli an effort to out- 
flank the American position on the riglit ; but the attempt was thwarted by 
the troops of Illinois. A heavy column was then thrown against the centre, 
only to be shattered and driven back by Captain Washington's artillery. 
The Mexicans next fell in great force upon the American left flank, where 
the second regiment of Indianians, acting under a mistaken order, gave 
way, putting tlie army in great peril. But the troops of Mississippi and 
Kentucky were rallied to the breach ; the men of Illinois and Indiana 
came bravely to the support; and again the enemy was hurled back. 
In the crisis of the battle the Mexicans made a furious and final charge 
upon Captain Bragg's battery ; but the gunners stood at their posts un- 
daunted, and the columns of lancers were scattered with terrible volleys 
of grape-shot. A charge of American cavalry, though made at the sacri- 
fice of many lives, added to the discomfiture of the foe. Against tremen- 
dous odds the field was fairly won. On the night after the battle the 
Mexicans, having lost nearly two thousand men, made a ))recipitate re- 
treat. The American loss w;is also severe, amounting, in killed, wounded 
and missing, to seven hundred and forty-six. This was the last of General 
Taylor's battles. He soon afterward returned to the United States, where 
he was received M'ith great enthusiasm. 

On the 9th of March, 1847, General Scott began the last campaign 
of the war. With a force of twelve thousand men he landed to the south 

of Vera Cruz, and in three days the 
investment of the city was completed. 
Trenches were opened at the distance 
of eight hundred yards ; and on the 
morning of the 22d the cannonade 
was begun. On the water side Vera 
Cruz was defended by the celebrated 
castle of San .luan d'Ulloa, erected 
by Spain in the early part of the sev- 
enteenth century, at the cost of four 
million dollars. For four days an 
mcessant storm of shot and shell from the fleet of Commodore Conner anc^ 
the land-batteries of Scott was poured upon the doomed castle and town. 
Life and property were swept into a common ruin. An assault was 
already planned, when the humbled authorities of the citj' proposed ca- 
pitulation. On the night of the 27th terms of surrender were signed, and 
two days afterward the American flag floated over Vera Cruz. 

The route from the gulf to the capital was now open. On the 8th 
of April General Twiggs, in command of the American advance, set out 










SCENE OF SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN, 1847, 



POLKS ADMINISTRATION. 455 

ou the road to Jalapa. Tlie main division, led by General Scott in per- 
son, followed immediately. For several days there was no serious oppo- 
sition; but on the 12th of the month Twiggs came upon Santa Anna, 
Avho, with an army of fifteen thousand men, had taken possession of the 
heights and rocky pass of Cerro Gordo. The jjosition, though seemingly 
impregnable, must be carried, or further advance was impossible. On the 
morning of the 18th the American army was arranged for an assault which, 
according to all the i-ules of war, promised only disaster and ruin. But to 
the troops of the United States nothing now seemed too arduous, no deed too 
full of jieril. Before noonday every position of the Mexicans had been suc- 
cessfully stormed and tiicmselves driven into a precipitate rout. Nearly 
three thousand prisoners were taken, together with forty-three jtieces of 
bronze artillery, fi\'e thousand muskets and accoutrements enough to 
supply an army. The American loss amounted to four hundred and 
thirty-one, that of the enemy to fully a thousand. Santa Anna escaped 
with his life, but left behind his private papers and ivoodcn leg. 

On the next day the victorious army entered Jalapa. On the 22d 
the strong castle of Perote, crowning a peak of the Cordilleras, was taken 
without resistance. Here another park of artillery and a vast amount of 
warlike stores fell into the hands of th? Americans. Turning southward. 
General Scott next led his army against the ancient and sacred city of 
Puebla. Though inhabited by eighty thoasand people, no defence was 
made or attempted. The handful of invaders marched unopposed through 
the gates, and on the 15th of May took up their quarters in the cit}'. 
The American army was now reduced to five thousand men, and General 
Scott was obliged to pause until reinforcements could be brought forward 
from Vera Cruz. Negotiations were again opened in the hojjc of peace ; 
but the Mexican authorities, stubborn and foolhardy as at the beginning, 
preferred to fight it out. 

By the 7th of August General Scott had received reinforcements, 
swelling his numbers to nearly eleven thousand. Leaving a small garri- 
son in Puebla, he again began his march upon the capital. The route 
now lay over the summit of the Cordilleras. At the passes of the moun- 
tains resistance had been expected ; but the advance was unopposed, and 
the army swept through to look down on the Valley op Mexico. 
Never before had the American soldiery beheld such a scene. Clear to 
the horizon stretched a most living landscape of green fields, villages and 
lakes — a picture too beautiful to be torn with the dread enginery of war, 

The army pressed on to Ayotla, only fifteen miles from the capital. 
Thus far General Scott had followed the great national road from Vera 
Cruz to Mexico ; but now, owing to the many fortifications and danger- 



456 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ous passes in front, it was deemed advisable to change the route. From 
Ayotla, thereibrc, the army wiieeled to the south, around Lake Chalco, 
and thence westward to San Augustine. From this place it was but ten 
miles to the capital. The city could be approached only by causeways 
leading across marshes and the beds of bygone lakes. At the ends of 
these causeways were massive gates strongly defended. To tlie left of 
the line of march were the almost inaccessible positions of (_"ontreras, San 
Antonio and jMolino del Rey. Directly in front, beyond the marslies and 
closer to the city, w-ere the powerful defences of Churubusco and Chapul- 
tepec, the latter a castle of great strength. These various positions were 
held by Santa Anna with a force of more than thirty thousand IMexicans. 
That General Scott, with an army not one-third as great in numbers, 
could take the city seemed an impossibility. But he was resolved to 
doit. 

On the 1 9th of August the divisions of Generals Pillow and Twiggs 
were ordered to storm the Mexican position at Contreras. About night- 
fall the line of communications between that place and Santa Anna's re- 
serves was cut, and in the darkness of the following midnight an assault- 
ing column, led by General Persifer F. Smith, moved against the enemy's 
camp. The attack was made at sunrise, and in seventeen minutes six 
thousand Mexicans, commanded by General Valencia, were driven in 
utter rout from their fortifications. The American storming-party num- 
bered less than four thousand. This was the first victory of that mem- 
orable 20th of August. A few hours afterward General AVorth advanced 
against San Antonio, comjielled an evacuation and routed the flying gar- 
rison. This was the second victory. Almost at the same time General 
Pillow led a column against one of the heights of Oluirubusco where the 
enemy had concentrated in great force. After a terrible assault the posi- 
tion was carried and the ^Icxicans scattered like chatf. This was the 
third triumph. The division of General Twiggs added a fourth victory 
by storming and holding another height of Churubusco, while the fifth 
and last was achieved by Generals Shields and Pierce, who defeated 
Santa Anna, coming to reinforce his garrisons. The whole Mexican army 
was hurled back upon the remaining fortification of Chapultepec. 

On the morning after the battles the Mexican authorities sent out 
a proposition to negotiate. It was only a ruse to gain time, for the terms 
proposed by them were such as conqueroi-s would have dictated to the 
vanquished. General Scott, who did not consider his army vanquished, 
rejected the proposals with scorn, rested his men until the 7th of Se])tem- 
ber, and then renewed hostilities. On the next morning General Worth 
was ordered to take Molino del Reiy and Casa de Mata, the western de- 



POLK'S ADMINISTRATION. 



457 



lences of Chapultepec. These positions were held by fourteen thousand 
Mexicans; but the Americans, after losing a fourth of their number in the 
desperate onset, were again victorious. Tiie guns were next brought to 
bear on Chapultepec itself, and on the 13th of the month that frowning 
citadel was carried by storm. Througli the San Cosme and Belen gates 
the conquering army swept resistlessly, and at nightfall the soldiers of th: 
Union were in the suburbs of Mexico. 

In the darkness of that night Santa Anna and the officei's of the 
government fled from 
the city; but not un- 
til they had turned 
loose two thousand 
convicts to fire upon 
the American army. 
On the f o 1 1 o w i n g 
morning, before day- 
dawn, forth came a 
deputation from the 
city to beg for mercy. 
This time the messen- 
gers were in earnest; 
but General Scott, 
weary of trifling, 
turned them away 
with contempt. " For- 
ward!" was the order 
that rang along the 
American lines at sun- 
rise. The war-worn 
regiments swept into 
the beautiful streets of 
the famous city, and 

at seven o'clock the flag of the United States floated over the halls of the 
Montezumas. So ended one of the most brilliant campaigns known in 
modern histor3\ 

On leaving his conquered capital Santa Anna, with his usual 
treachery, turned about to attack the American hospitals at Puebla. 
Here about eighteen hundred sick men had been left in charge of Colonel 
Chikls. For several days a gallant resistance was made by the feeble 
garrison, until General Lane, on his march to the capital, fell upon the 
besiegers and scattered them. It was the closing stroke of the war — a 




OENEBAL WINFIELD SCOTT. 



458 HISTORY- OF THE UNITED STATES 

contest in which the Americans, few in nuniLier and in a far-distani;_ 
densely-peopled countiy, had gained every victory. 

The military power of Mexico was now completely broken. Santa 
Anna was a fugitive. It only remained to determine the conditions of 
peace. In the winter of 1847-48 American ambassadors met the jNIexican 
Congress, in session at Guadalupe Hidalgo, and on the 2d of February a 
treaty Avas conclndcd I:)etwecn the two nations. The compact was ratified 
by both governments, and on the 4th of the following July President Polk 
made a proclamation of peace. By the terms of settlement the boundary- 
line between Mexico and the United States was fixed as follows : Tiie 
Rio Grande from its mouth to the southern limit of New Mexico ; thence 
westward along the southern and northward along the western boundary 
of that territory to the river Gila ; thence down that river to the Colo- 
rado ; thence westward to the Pacific. The whole of New INIexico and 
Upper California was relinquished to the United States. Mexico guar- 
anteed the free navigation of the Gulf of California, and the river Colo- 
rado from its mouth to the confluence of the Gila. In consideration of 
these territorial acquisitions and privileges the United States agreed to 
surrender all places held by military occupation in Mexico, to pay into 
the treasury of that country fifteen million dollars, and to assume all debts 
line from the Mexican government to American citizens, said debts not to 
exceed three million five hundred thousand dollars. Thus at last A\as the 
territory of tlie United States spread out in one broad belt from ocean to 
ocean. 

In the mean time the troublesome and alarming question of the 
Oregon Boundary was finally disposed of. For more tiuui a quarter 
of a century the territorial limit of the United States on the northwest 
had been a matter of controversy between the Federal government 
and Great Britain. By the terms of the convention of 1818 the in- 
ternational line had been carried westward from the northwestern ex- 
tremity of the Lake of the Woods along the forty-ninth parallel to 
the crest of the Rocky Mountains ; but from that point to the Pacific 
no agreement could be reached. As early as 1807, and again in 1818 
and 1826, tlie United States had formally claimed the parallel of fifty- 
fi)ur degrees and forty minutes; but this boundary Great Britain refused 
to accept. By a convention, held in August of 1827, it was agreed by 
the representatives of the two powers that the territory lying between 
the forty-ninth parallel — which, according to the English theory, was 
the true international line — and the ])arallel of fifty-four degrees and 
forty minutes should remain open indefinitely and impartially for the 
joint occupancy of British and American citizens. By this action the 



POLK'S ADMINISTRATION. 459 

difficulty was postponed for sixteen years; but thoughtful statesmen 
of both nations became alarmed that a question of such magnitude 
should remain unsettled, and negotiations were renewed. In 1843 
the minister resident of the United States in London again proposed 
the parallel of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes, but the jiroposition 
was rejected. In the next year the British ambassador at Washington 
aspiin suggested the fortv-ninth degree of latitude as the true bound- 
ary; but to this the government of the United States refused to ac- 
cede. Then came the war with Mexico and with it tlie prospective 
extension of territory on the southwest. The views of the adminis- 
tration in regard to the northwestern boundary became less stringent; 
and finally, in a convention of the two powers held on the 15th of 
June, 1846, the question was definitely settled by a treaty. Every 
point of the long-standing controversy was decided in favor of Great 
Britain. The forty-ninth parallel was established as the international 
boundary from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to the middle of 
the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island; 
thence southerly through the middle of said channel and of Fuca's 
Straits to the Pacific. Vancouver's Island itself was awarded to Great 
Britain ; and the free navigation of the Columbia River was guaran- 
teed to the Hudson Bay Company and other British subjects on the 
same conditions as those imposed on citizens of the United States. 
The treaty was by no means so favorable as might have been expected, 
and by many it was denounced as actually dishonorable to the Fed- 
eral government. It is certain that better terms might have been de- 
manded and obtained. * 

A few days after the signing of the treaty of peace with Mexico 
an event occurred in California which spread excitement through the 
civilized world. A laborer, employed by Captain Sutter to cut a mill- 
race on the American fork of the Sacramento River, discovered some 
pieces of gold in the sand where he was digging. With further search 
other particles were found. The news spread as if borne on the wind. 
From all quartci'S adventurers came flocking. Other explorations led 
to further revelations of the precious metal. For a while there seemed 
no end to the discoveries. Straggling gold-hunters sometimes picked 
up in a few hours the value of five hundred dollars. The intelligence 
went flying through the States to the Atlantic, and then to the ends 

•Such was tlie indignation of tlie opponents of this treaty — especially of the leaders 
of the Whig party — that the political battle-cry of "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!" became 
almost as popular a motto as "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights " had been in the War 
of 1812. 



460 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



of the world. Men thousands of miles away were crazed with excite- 
ment. Workshops were shut up, business houses abandoned, fertile 
farms left tenantless, offices deserted. Though the overland routes to 
California were scarcely yet discovered, thousands of our eager adven- 
turers started on the long, long journey. Before the end of 1850 San 
Francisco had grown from a miserable village of huts to a city of 
fifteen thousand inhabitants. By the close of 1852 the territory had 
a population of more than a quarter of a million. The importance 
of the gold mines uf California, whose richness is not yet exhausted, 
can hardly be overestimated. 




THK SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



In April of 1846, Congress passed an act organizing the Smith- 
sonian Institution at Washington City. Twenty-two years previ- 
ously an eminent English chemist and philanthropist named James 
Smithson * had died at Genoa, bequeathing on certain conditions a 
large sum of money to the United States. In the fall of 1838, by 
the death of Smithson 's nephew, the proceeds of the estate, amount- 
ing to five hundred and fifteen thou.sand dollars, were secured by the 

* Until after his graduation at Oxford in 1786, this reniarlcable man was known by 
the name of James Lewis Made. Afterward, of liis own accord, he chose the name of 
his reputed fatlicr, Hugli Smitlison, duke of Nortliumberland. 




CAi.iroRxiA, 1849. (Pass of tlie Sierras.) 



POLK'S ADMINISTRATION. 461 

agent of the national government and deposited in the mint. It had 
been provided in the will that the bequest should be used for the 
establishment iit Washington of an institution jor the increase and dif- 
fusion of knowledge among men. To carry out the great design of the 
testator a plan of organization, prepared by Jt)hn Quiney Adanis^ was 
laid before Congress and afler some modifications adoj)ted. 

In the act of establishment it was provided that the institution 
contemplated by Mr. Smithson should be named in his honor " The 
Smithsonian Institution"; that the same should be under the imme- 
diate control of a Board of Eegcnts composed of the President, Vice- 
President, judges of the Supreme Court, and other principal officers 
of the government; that the entire Smithsonian fund, amounting with 
accrued interest to six hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars, should 
be loaned forever to the United States at six per cent.; that out of the 
proceeds, together with congressional appropriations and private gift-s, 
buildings should be provided suitable to contain a museum of nat- 
ural history, a cabinet of minerals, a chemical laboratory, a gallery 
of art, and a library. Professor Joseph Henry of Princeton College 
was chosen secretary of the institution, and the plan of organization 
was speedily and successfully carried out. The result iuis been the 
establishment in the United States of one of the most beneficent in- 
stitutions known in the history of mankind. The Smithsonian Con- 
tributions to Knowledge already amount to eighteen volumes quarto ; 
and the future is destined to yield still richer results in widening the 
boundaries of human thought and increasing the happiness of men. 

In the first summer of President Polk's administration the coun- 
try was called to mourn the death of General Jackson. The veteran 
warrior and statesman lived to the age of seventy-eight, and died at 
his home, called the Hermitage, in Tennessee. On the 23d of Feb- 
ruary, 1848, ex-President John Quiney Adams died at tlie city of 
Washington. At the time of his decease he was a mendjcr of the 
House of Representatives. He was struck with paralysis in the very 
seat from which he had so many times electrified the nation with his 
eloquence. 

In 1848 Wisconsin, the last of the five great States formed from 
the North-western Territory, was admitted into the Union. The new 
commonwealth came with a population of two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand and an area of nearly fifty-four thousand square miles. By estab- 
lishing the St. Croix instead of the Mississippi as the western boundary 
of the State, Wisconsin lost a considerable district rightfully belonging 
to her territory. 



462 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Near the clo.se of Polk's administration an important atldition 
was made to the President's cahinet by the establishment of the De- 
partment OF THE Interior. To the three original departments of 
the government, as organized during the administration of Washing- 
ton, had already been added the ottiees of Postmaster-General and 
Secretary of the Navy. The Attorney-General had also come to 1 
recognized as a regular member of the cabinet. With the growl. 
and development of the nation it was found that the duties belong- 
ing to the departments of state and the treasury had become so man- 
ifold as to require the establishment of a separate office. A certain 
part of these duties were accordingly detached, and the new " Home 
Department" — afterwards called Department of the Interior — was 
constituted by act of Congress. In the beginning of the next admin- 
istration the new secretaryship was assigned to General Thomas Ewing 
of Ohio. 

Another presidential election was at hand. Three well-known 
candidates were presented for the suffrages of the people. General 
Lewis Cass of Michigan was nominated by the Democrats, and Gen- 
eral Zachary Taylor by the Whigs. As the candidate of the new 
Free-Soil party, ex-President Martin Van Buren was put forward. 
The rise of this new party was traceable to a question concerning the 
territory acquired by the Mexican War. In 184G David Wilmot of 
Pennsylvania brought before Congress a bill to prohibit .slarcri/ in all 
the territory which might be secured by treaty with Mexico. The 
bill was defeated ; but the advocates of the measure, which was called 
the Wilmot Proviso, formed themselves into a party, and in June 
of 1848 nominated Mr. Van Buren for the presidency. The real 
contest, however, lay between Generals Cass and Taylor. The posi- 
tion of the two leading parties on the question of slavery in the new 
territories was as yet not clearly defined, and the election was left to 
turn on the personal popularity of the candidates. The memory of 
his recent victories in Mexico made General Taylor the favorite with 
the people, and he was elected by a large majority. As Vice-Presi- 
dent, Millard Fillmore of New York was chosen. So closed the agi- 
tated but not inglorious administration of President Polk. 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOR AND FILLMORE. 



463 



CHAPTER LVllI. 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOR AND FILLMORE, 1S49-185S. 

THE new President was a Virginian by birtli, a Kentuckian by breed- 
ing, a soldier by profession. In 1808 lie left the farm to accept a 
commission in the army. During the war of 1812 he distinguished him- 
self in the North-west, especially in defending Fort Harrison against the 
Red men. In the 
Seminole War he bore 
a conspicuous part, but 
earned his greatest re- 
nown in Mexico. His 
reputation, t h o u g li 
strictly military, was 
enviable, and his cha- 
racter above reproach. 
His administration be- 
gan with a violent agi- 
tation on the question 
of slavery in the terri- 
tories; California, the 
El Dorado of the West, 
was the origin of the 
dispute. 

In his first mes- 
sage President Taylor 
expressed his symjia- 
thy with the Califor- 
nians, and advised 
them to form a State 
government prepara- * 

lory to admission into the Union. The advice was promptly accepted. 
A convention of delegates was held at Monterey in September of 1840. 
A constitution prohibiting slavery was framed, submitted to the people, 
and adopted with but little opposition. Peter H. Burnet was elected 
governor of the Territory ; members of a general assembly were chosen ; 
and on the 20th of December, 1849, the new government was organized 




\ ^%^^^-^^ 



PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 



464 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

at San Jose. At the same time a petition in the usual form was for- 
warded to Congress asking for the admission of California as a State. 

The presentation of the petition was the signal for a hitter contro- 
versy. As in the case of the admission of jVIissouri, the mcmliers of Con- 
gress, and to a great extent the people, were sectionally divided. But 
now the position of the parties was reversed ; the proposition to admit the 
)ie\v State was favored by the representatives of the North and opposed 
by those of the South. The ground of the opposition was that with the 
extension of the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific the right to in- 
troduce slavery into California was guaranteed by the general government, 
and that therefore the proposed constitution of the State ought to be re- 
jected. The re|>ly of the North was that the argument could apj>ly only 
to a part of the new State, that the Missouri Compromise had respect only 
to the Louisiana purchase, and that the people of California had framed 
their constitution in their own way. Such was the issue; and the debates 
grew more and more violent, until the stability of the Union was seriously 
endangered. 

Other exciting questions added fuel to the controversy. Texas 
claimed New Mexico as a jiart of her territory, and the claim was resisted 
by the people of Santa Fe, who desired a separate government. The peo- 
ple of the South complained bitterly tiiat fugitive slaves, escaping from 
their masters, were aided and encouraged in the North. The opponents 
of slavery demanded the abolition of the slave-trade in the District of 
Columbia. Along the whole line of controvei-sy there was a spirit of 
suspicion, recrimination and anger. 

The illustrious Henry Clay appeared as a peaceniaker. In the 
spring of 1850 he was appointed chairman of a committee of thirteen, to 
whom all the questions under discussion were referred. On the 9th of 
May he brought forward, as a compromise covering all the points in dis- 
pute, THE Omnibus Bii-i., of whicii the jirovisions were as follows: First, 
the admission of California as a free State ; second, the formation of now 
States, not exceeding ibur in number, out of tlie territory of Texas, said 
States to permit or exclude slavcrv as the peo]ile sliould determine; third, 
the organization of territorial governments for New ^Mexico and Utah, 
without conditions on the question of slavery; fourth, the establishment 
of the present boundary between Texas and New Mexico, and the pay- 
ment to the former for surrendering the latter the sum of ten million dol- 
lars from the national treasury ; fifth, the enactment of a more rigorous 
law for the recovery of fugitive slaves ; sixth, the abolition of the slave- 
trade in the District of Columbia. 

AVhen the Omnibus Bill was laid before Congress, the debates began 



ADMISISrEATIOys OF TAYLOR AXI) FILLMORE. 465 



anew, and seemed likely to be interminable. While the discussion was at 
its heiglit and the issue still undecided, President Taylor fell sick, and 
died on the 9th of Jul}', 1850. In accordance with the provisions of the 
constitution, !Mr. Fillmore at once took the oath of office and entered upon 
the duties of the presidency. A new cabinet Mas f(M-med, with Daniel 
Webster at the head as secretary of state. Notwithstanding the death of 
the chief magistrate, the government moved on without disturbance. 

The compromise proposed by Mr. Clay and sustained by his elo- 
quence was at length 
appi'ovcd by Congress. 
On the 18th of Sc]i- 
teraber the last clause 
was adopted, and the 
whole received the im- 
mediate sanction of the 
President. The ex- 
citement in the couu- 
tiy rapidly abated, and 
the distracting contro- 
versy seemed at an end. 
Such was the last, and 
perhaps the greatest, 
of those pacific mea- 
sures originated and 
carried through Con- 
gress 1)}' tlie genius 
of Henr\^ Clay. He 
shortly afterward bade 
adieu to the Senate, 
and sought at his be- 
loved Ashland a brief 
rest fi-om the arduous 
cares of public life. 

The passage of the Omnibus Bill brought a political quiet ; Dut 
the moral convictions of very few men were altered by its provisions. 
Public opinion remained as before: in the North, a general, indefinite, 
but growing hostility to slavery ; in the South, a fixed and resolute 
purpose to defend and extend that institution. To the President, 
whose party was in the ascendency in most of the Free States, the 
measure was fotal ; for although his cabinet had advised hira to sign 
the bill, the Whigs were at heart opposed to the fugitive slave law* 
so 




HENKY CLAY. 



466 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and when he gave his assent they turned coklly from him. In the 
Whig National convention, two years afterwards, although the policy 
of tlie President was approved and the eomjjromise measures ratified 
by a vote of two hundred and twenty-seven against sixty, not twenty 
Northern votes could be obtained for his renomination. Thus do 
political parties jninish their leaders for hesitating to espouse a prin- 
ciple which the parties themselves are afraid tr) avow. 

The year 1850 was marked by a lawless attempt on the part of 
some American adventurers to gain possession of Cul)a. It was 
thought tiuit tlie people of that island were anxious to throw off the 
Spanish yoke and to annex themselves to the United States. In order 
to encourage such a movement. General Lopez organized an expedi- 
tion in the South, and on the 19th of May, 1850, effected a landing 
at Cardenas, a port of Cuba. But there was no uprising in his favor; 
neither Cubans nor Spanish soldiers joined his standard, and he Mas 
obliged to seek safety by returning to Florida. Renewing the attempt 
in the following year, he and his band of four hundred and eighty 
men were attacked, defeated and captured by an overwhelming force 
of Spaniards. Lopez and the ringleaders were taken to Havana, 
tried, condemned and executed. 

The first annual message of the President ^vas a document of 
great al^ility. Among the many important measures pressed upon the 
attention of Congress were the following: a system of cheap and uni- 
form postage ; the establislimcnt, in connection with the Department 
of the Interior, of a Bureau of Agriculture; lil)eral appropriations for 
tlie improvement of rivers and harbors; the building of a national 
asylum for disabled and destitute seamen ; a permanent tariff with 
specific duties on imports and discrimination in favor of American 
manufactures; the opening of communication between the Mississippi 
and the Pacific coast ; a settlement of the land difiiculties in Califor- 
nia ; an act for the retirement of supernumerary officers of the army 
and navy; and a board of commissioners to adjust the claims of pri- 
vate citizens against the government of the United States. Only two 
of these important recommendations — the asylum for sailors and the 
settlement of the land claims in California — were carried into effect. 
For the President's party were in a minority in Congress; and the 
majority refused or neglected to approve his measures. 

In 1852 a serious trouble arose with England. By the terms 
of former treaties the coast-fisheries of Ne\vfoundland belonged ex- 
clusively to Great Britain. But outside of a line drawn three miles 
from the shore American fisherman enjoyed ef,ual rights and privi- 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOR AND FILLMORE. 467 

leges. Now the dispute arose as to whether the line shouhl be drawn 
from one headland to another so as to give all the bays and inlets to 
England, or whether it should be made to conform to the irregulari- 
ties of the coast. Under the latter construction American fishing- 
vessels would have equal claims in the bays and harbors; but this 
privilege was denied by Great Britain, and the quarrel rose to such a 
height that both nations sent men-of-war to the contested waters. But 
reason triumphed over passion, and in 1854 the difficulty was happily 
settled by negotiation; the right to take fish in any of the bays of 
the British possessions was conceded to American fishermen. 

During the summer of 1852 the celebrated Hungarian patriot 
Louis Kossuth made the tour of the United States. Austria and 
Russia had united against his native land and overthrown her liber- 
ties. He came to plead the cause of Hungary before the American 
people, and to obtain such aid as might be privately furnished to his 
oppressed countrymen. Every-where he was received with expres- 
sions of sympathy and good-will. His mission was successful, though 
the long-established policy of the United States forbade the govern- 
ment to interfere on behalf of the Hungarian patriots. 

About this time the attention of the American people was di- 
rected in a special manner to explorations in the Arctic Ocean. In 
1845 Sir John Franklin, one of the bravest of English seamen, went 
on a voyage of discovery to the extreme North. He believed in the 
possibility of passing through an open polar sea into the Pacific. 
Years went by, and no tidings came from the daring sailor. It was 
only known that he had passed the country of Esquimaux. Other 
expeditions were despatched in search, but returned without success. 
Henry Grinnell, a wealthy merchant of New York, fitted out several 
vessels at his own expense, put them under command of Lieutenant 
De Haven, and sent them to the North ; but in vain. The govern- 
ment came to Mr. Grinnell's aid. In 1853 a new Arctic squadron 
was equipped ; the command of which was given to Dr. Elisha Kent 
Kane ; but the expedition, though rich in scientific results, returned 
without the discovery of Franklin. 

During the administrations of Taylor and Fillmore the country 
■was called to mourn the loss of many distinguished men. On the 31st 
of March, 1850, Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina passed 
away. His death was much lamented, especially in his own State, to 
whose interests he had devoted the energies of his life. His earnest- 
ness and zeal and powers of deliate have placed him in the front rank 
of American orators. At the age of sixty-eight he fell from his place 



^ 



468 



HmTORY OF THE UNITED .'STATES. 



like a scarred oak of the forest never to rise again. Then followed 
the death of the President; and then, on the 28th of June, 1852, 
Henry Clay, having fought his last battle, sank to rest. On the 24th 
of the following October the illustrious Daniel Webster died at his 

home at Marshficld, 



Massachusetts. Tht 
place of secretary of 
State, made vacant 
by his death, was 
conferred on Edward 
Everett. 

In Europe the 
news of Lopez's ri- 
diculous invasion of 
Cuba created great 
excitement. Not- 
withstanding a dis- 
tinct disavowal of 
the whole proceeding 
on the part of the 
Federal government, 
notwithstanding tlie 
immediate dismissal 
of the officer at New 
Orleans who had al- 
lowed the expedition 
of Lopez to escape 
from that port, — the governments of Great Britain and France affec- 
ted to believe that the covert aim and purpose of the United States 
was to acquire Cuba by conquest. Acting upon this presumption the 
British and French ministers proposed to the American government 
to enter into a Tripartiic Treuiy — so called— in which each of the con- 
tracting nations was to disclaim then and forever all intention of pos- 
sessing Cuba. To this j'l'oposal Mr. Everett replied in one of the 
most masterly State pa^iers on record. Great Britain and France were 
informed that the annexation of Cuba was regarded by the United 
States as a measure hazardous and impolitic ; that entire good faith 
would be kept with Spain and with all nations; but that the Federal 
government did not recognize in any European power the right to 
meddle with affairs purely American, and that, in accordance with 
the doctrine set forth by President Monroe, any such interference 




JOHN C. CALHOl'X. 



PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION. 469 

would be resented as an affront to the sovereignty of the United 
States. 

As Fillmore's administration drew to a close the political parties 
again marshaled their forces. Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire 
appeared as the candidate of the Democratic party, and General Win- 
field Scott as the choice of the Whigs. The question at issue before 
the country was the Compromise Act of 1860. But the parties, in- 
stead of being divided, were for once agreed as to the wisdom of that 
measure. Both the Whig and Democratic platforms stoutly reaffirmed 
the justice of the Omnibus Bill, by which the dissensions of the coun- 
try had been quieted. A third party arose, however, whose members, 
both Whigs and Democrats, doubted the wisdom of the compromise 
of 1850, and declared that all the Territories of the United States 
ought to be free. John P. Hale of New Hampshire was put forward 
as the candidate of this Free Soil party. Mr. Pierce was elected by a 
large majority, and William R. King of Alabama was chosen Vice- 
President. 



CHAPTER LIX. 

PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION, 1S53-1S57. 

rPHE new chief magistrate was a native of New Hampshire, a graduate 
-L of Bowdoin College, a lawyer, a politician, a general in the Mexican 
War, a statesman of considerable abilities. Mr. King, the Vice-Presi- 
dent, had for a long time represented Alabama in the Senate of the United 
States. On account of failing health lie was sojourning in the island of 
Cuba at the time of the inauguration, and there he received the oath of 
office. Growing still more feeble, he returned to his own State, where 
he died on the 18th of April, 1853. As secretary of state under the new 
administration William L. Marcy of New York was chosen. 

In the sunniier of 185.3 the first corps of engineers was sent out by 
the government to exjilore the route for A Pacific Railroad. The 
enterprise was at first regarded as visionary, then believed in as possible, 
and finally undertaken and accomplished. In the same year that marked 
the beginning of the project tlie disputed boundary between New Mexico 
and Chihuahua was satisfactorily settled. The maps on which the former 
treaties with Mexico had been based were found to be erroneous. Santa 



470 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Anna, who had again become president of the Mexican republic, at- 
tempted to take advantage of the error, and sent an army t<i occupy 
the territory between the true and the false boundary. Tliis action 
was resisted by the authorities of New Mexico and the United States, 
and a second Mexican Avar seemed imminent. The difficulty was ad- 
justed, however, by the purchase of the doubtful claim of Mexico. 
This transaction, known as the Gadsden Purchase, led to the erec- 
tion of the new Territory of Arizona. 

The first year of Pierce's administration was signalized by the 
opening of intercourse between the United States and the great em- 
pire of Japan. Hitherto the Japanese ports had been closed against 
the vessels of Christian nations. In order to remove this foolish and 
injurious restriction Commodore Perry, a son of Oliver H. Perry of 
the war of 1812, sailed with his s(juadron into the Bay of Yeddo. 
When warned to depart, he explained to the Japanese officers the sin- 
cere desire of the United States to enter into a commercial treaty with 
the emj>cror. ^Vfter much delay and hesitancy consent was o])tained to 
hold an interview with that august personage, xlccordingly, on the 
14th of July, the commodore with his officers obtained an audience 
with the dusky monarch of the East, and presented a letter from the 
President of tlie United States. Still the government of Japan was 
wary of accepting the proposition, and it was not until the spring of 
1854 that a treaty could be concluded. The privileges of commerce 
were thus conceded to American merchant vessels, and two ports of 
entry were designated for their use. 

On the very day of Commodore Perry's introduction to the em- 
peror of Japan the Crystal Palace was opened in the city of New York 
for the second World's Fair. The palace itself was a marvel in ar- 
chitecture, being l)uilt exclusively of iron and glass. Thousands of 
specimens of the arts and manufactures of all civilized nations were 
put on exhibition within the spacious building. The enterprise and 
inventive genius of the whole country were quickened into a new 
life by the beautiful and instructive display. International exhibitions 
are among the happiest fruits of an enlightened age. 

During the administration of Pierce the country was frequently 
disturbed by the filibustering expeditions of General William Walker 
into Central America. This audacious and unscrupulous adventurer 
began his operations in 1853 by escaping with a band of followers 
from the port of San Francisco and making a descent on La Paz in 
Ijiiwer California. In the spring of 1854 he marched overland with a 
hundred men and raised the standard of revolt in the state of Sonora; 



PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION. 471 

but the company was dispersed and himself made prisoner. In May 
of the same year he was tried by the authorities of San Francisco and 
acquitted. But not satisfied with his previous experience, he again 
raised a band of sixty-two followers and proceeded to Central America. 
Being joined by a regiment of natives he fought and gained a battle 
at Rivas, on the 29th of June, 1855. In a second battle at Virgin 
Bay he was also successful. Fighting continued until the following 
summer when his influence had become so powerful that he was 
elected president of Xicaraugua. Then came a change in his fortunes. 
A great insurrection ensued ; and the other Central American states, 
assisted b}' the Vanderbilt steam-ship company, whose rights he had 
violated, combined against him and on the 1st of May, 1857, he was 
again made prisoner. But in a ohort time he was foot-loose at New 
Orleans, where he organized a third company of adventurers — men 
who had everything to gain and nothing to lose — and on the 25th of 
November succeeded in reaching I'unta Arenas, Nicaraugua. 

Within less than a month, however, he was again obliged to sur- 
render to Commodore Paulding of the United States navy. For a 
while the great filibuster was a prisoner at New York ; hut getting his 
liberty, he continued his scheming, and in June of 1860 a third time 
reached Central America at the head of a considerable force. This 
time the descent was made at Truxillo. Honduras. But the president 
of that state, assisted by a British man-of-war, soon overpowered and 
captured the whole band. On the 3d of September Walker was tried 
by a court-martial at Truxillo, condemned, and shot. The courage 
with which he met his fate has half redeemed his forfeited fame and 
left after times in doubt whether he shall be called fanatic or hero. * 

To this period also belongs the history of what is known in 
American diplomacy as thb Martin Koszta Affair. Martin Koszta 
was a leader in the Hungarian revolt against Austria, in 1849. After 
the rebellion was suppressed he fled to Turkey whence he was demanded 
by the Austrian government as a refugee and traitor. The Turkish 
authorities, however, refused to give him up but agreed that he should 
be sent into exile to some foreign land never to return. Koszta chose 
the United States as his asylum, came hither, and took out partial but 
not complete papers of naturalization. In 1854 he returned to Tur- 
key, contrary — as it was alleged — to his former promise. At the city 
of Smyrna he received a passport from the American consul residing 
there, and went ashore. But the Austrian consul at Smyrna, hearing 

*It will be observed tbnt the narrative of Walker's e.Kploits and end, extends nearly 
to tlic conclusion of Buchanan's administration. 



472 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of Koszta's arrival and having no power to arrest him on shore, indiice(\ 
some bandits to seize him and tlirow iiim into the water of tlie bay 
where a boat in waiting picked him up and carried him on board an 
Austrian frigate. The American officials immediately demanded his 
release, which was refused. Thereupon Captain Duncan Ingraham, 
commanding the American sloop of war St. Louis, loaded his guns, 
pointed them at the Austrian vessel, and was about to make hot work, 
Avhen it was agreed by all parties that Koszta should be put in charge 
of tlie French government until his nationality should be decided. In 
this condition of affairs the (juestion was given over for discussion to 
Baron Hiilseman — the Austrian minister at Washington — and William 
L. Marcy, the American secretary of state. The correspondence was 
one of the ablest on record and extended, before its termination, to 
almost every question affecting naturalization and citizenship, and in- 
deed to many other important topics of international law. Mr. Marcy 
was completely triumphant in his argument and Koszta was remanded 
to the United States. Of so much importance is the life of one man, 
when it involves the great question of human rights. 

In the years 1853-54, the peaceable relations of the United 
States and Spain were again endangered by Cuban difficulties. Presi- 
dent Pierce believed that owing to the financial embarrassment of the 
Spanish government, Cuba might now be purchased at a reasonable 
price and annexed to the United States. The delicate business of ne- 
gotiating was intrusted at first to Mr. Soule, the American minister 
at Madrid. But afterwards James Buchanan and John Y. Mason wera 
added to the mission. A convention of the ambassadors of the vari- 
ous governments concerned was held at Osteud, and an important in- 
slrument was there drawn up — chiefly by Mr. Buchanan — known as 
THE OsTEND MANIFESTO. Tlie document was chiefly devoted to an 
elaborate statement of tlie arguments in favor of the purchase and an- 
nexation of Cuba by the United States, as a measure of sound wisdom 
to both the Spanish and American governments. But nothing of prac- 
tical importance resulteci from the embassy or the manifesto. 

And now the great domain lying west of Minnesota, Iowa and 
Missouri was to be organized ii.to territorial governments. Already 
into these vast regions the tide of immigration was pouring, and it be- 
came necessary to provide for the future. In January of 1854, Sen- 
ator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois brought before the Senate of the 
United States a proposition to organize the territories of Kansas and 
Nebraska. In the bill rejiorted for this purpose a clause was inserted 
providing tliat tlio ])eople of tlie two Territories, in forming their con- 



PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION. 473 

stitutions, should decide for themselves whether the new States should be 
tree or slavehokling. This was a virtual repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise, for both tlie new territories lay north of the parallel of 
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes. Thus by a single stroke the 
old settlement of the slavery question was to be undone. From Jan- 
uary until May, Mr. Douglas's report, known as the Kansas-Ne 
BRASKA Bill, was debated in Congress. All the bitter sectional 
antagonisms of the past were aroused in full force. The bill was 
violently opposed by a majority of the representatives from the East 
and North ; but the minority, uniting with the congressmen of the 
South, enabled Douglas to carry his measure through Congress, and 
in May of 1854 the bill received the sanction of the President. 

Kansas itself now became a battle-field for the contending par- 
ties. Whether tlie new State should admit slavery now depended upon 
the vote of tlio people. Wherefore both factions made a rush for the 
territory in order to secure a majority. Kansas was soon filled with 
an agitated mass of people, thousands of whom had been sent thither 
to vote. An election held in November of 1854 resulted in the choice 
of a pro-slavery delegate to Congress, and in the general territorial 
election of the following year the same party was triumphant. Tlie 
State Legislature thus chosen assembled at Lecompton, organized the 
government and framed a constitution permitting slavery. The I<"ree 
Soil pai'ty, declaring the general election to have been illegal on ac- 
count of fraudulent voting, assembled in convention at Topeka, framed 
a constitution excluding slavery, and organized a rival government. 
Civil war broke out between the factions. From the autumn of 1855 
until the following summer the Territory was the scene of constant 
turniiiil and violence. On the 3d of September the President ap- 
pointed .Tolin W. Geary of Pennsylvania military governor of Kansas, 
with full powers to restore order and punish lawlessness. On his ar- 
rival the liostile parties were quieted and peace restored. But the 
agitation in the Territory had already extended to all parts of the 
Union, and became the issue on which the people divided in the presi- 
dential election of 1856. 

The parties made ready for the contest. James Buchanan of 
Pennsylvania was nominated as the Democratic candidate. By plant- 
ing himself on a platform of principles in which the doctrines of the 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill were distinctly reaffirmed, he was able to secure 
a heavy vote both North and South. For many Northern Democrats, 
though opposed to slavery, held firmly to the opinion that the people 
of every Territory ought to have the right to decide the question for 



474 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

themselves. As the candidate of the Free Soil or People's party, 
John C. Fremont of California was bronght forward. The exclusion 
of slavery from all the Territories of the United States by congres- 
sional action was the distinctive principle of the Free Soil platform. 
Meanwhile, an American or Know-Nothing party had arisen in the 
country, the leaders of which, anxious to ignore the slavery question 
and to restrict foreign influences in the nation, nominated Millard Fill- 
more for the presidency. But the slavery question could not be put 
aside; on that issue the people were really divided. A large majority 
decided in favor of Mr. Buchanan for the presidency, while the choice 
for the vice-presidency fell on .John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. 



CHAPTER LX. 

BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION, 1857-1S61. 

TAMES BUCHANAN was a native of Pennsylvania, born on the 
13th of April, 1791, educated for the profession of law. In 1831 
he was appointed minister to Russia, was afterward elected to the 
Senate of the United States, and from that position was called to the 
office of secretary of state under President Polk. In 1853 he received 
the appointment of minister to Great Britain, and resided at London 
until his nomination for the presidency. As secretary of state in the 
new cabinet, General Lewis Cass of Michigan was chosen. 

A few days after the inauguration of the new chief magistrate, 
the Supreme Court of the United States delivered the celebrated opin- 
ion known in American history as the Dred Scott Decision. Dred 
Scott, a negro, had been held as a slave by Dr. Emerson of Missouri, 
a surgeon in the United States army. On the removal of Emerson to 
'lock Island, Illinois, and afterwards, in 1836, to Fort Snclling, Min- 
nesota, Scott was taken along; and at the latter place he and a negro 
woman, who had been bouglit by the surgeon, were married. Two 
cliildren were l)orn of tlic marriage, and then the whole family were 
taken back to St. Louis and sold. Dred thereupon brought suit for 
his freedom. The cause was heard in the circuit and supreme courts 
of ^lissouri, and, in May of 1854, was appealed to the Supreme Court 
of the United States. After a delay of nearly three years a decision 
was finallv reached in March of 1857. Chief-Justice Taney, speaking 



BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION. 475 

for the court, ilecided that negroes, whether free or slave, loere not cit- 
izens of the United States, and that they could not become such by any 
pr-ocess Jcnown to the Constitution; that under the hivvs of the United 
States a negro could neither sue nor be sued, and that therefore the 
court had no jurisdiction of Dred Scott's cause ; that a slave was to 
be regarded in the light ot a personal chattel, and that he might be 
removed from place to place by his owner as any other piece of prop= 
erty ; that the Constitution gave to every slave-holder the right of re- 
moving to or through any State or Territory with his slaves, and of 
returning at his will with them to a State where slavery was recog- 
nized by law; and that therefore the Missouri C'DUipromise of 1820, 
as well as the compromise measures of 1850, was unconstitutional and 
void. In these opinions six of the associate justices of the supreme 
bench — Wayne, Nelson, Grier, Daniel, Campbell, and Catron — con- 
curred ; while two associates — Judges McLean and Curtis — dissented. 
The decision of the majority, which was accepted as the opinion of 
the court, gave great satisfaction to the ultra slave-holding sentiments 
of the South, but excited in the North thousands of indignant com- 
ments and much bitter opposition. 

In the first year of Buchanan's administration there was a Mor- 
mon rebellion in Utah. The difficulty arose from an attempt to ex- 
tend the judicial system of the United States over the Territory. Thus 
far Brigliam Young, the Mormon governor, had had his own way of 
administering justice. The community of Mormons was organized on 
a plan very different from that existing in other Territories, and many 
usages had grown up in Utah which were repugnant to the laws of 
the country. When, therefore, a Federal judge was sent to preside 
in the Territory, he was resisted, insulted and driven violently from 
the seat of justice. The other officials of the Federal government 
were also expelled, and the Territory became the scene of a reign 
of terror. The Mormons, however, attempted a justification of their 
conduct on the ground that the character of the United States offi- 
cers had been so low and vicious as to command no respect. But 
the excuse was deemed insufficient, and Brighani Young was super- 
seded in the governorship by Alfred Cumming, superintendent of 
Indian affiiirs on the Upper Missouri. Judge Delana Eckels of In- 
diana was appointed chief-justice of the Territory; and an army of 
two thousand five hundred men was organized and despatched to 
Utah to put down lawlessness by force. 

But Young and the Mormon ciders were in no humor to give 
up their authority without a struggle. The approaching American 



476 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 

army was denounced as a liordc of barbarians, and preparations were 
made for resistance. In September of 1857 tlie national forces reached 
the Territory ; and on the 6tli of October a company of Mormon ran- 
gers made good the threats of Young by attacking and destroying 
most of the suj^ply trains of the army. Winter came on, and the 
Federal forces, under command of Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, 
were obliged to find quarters on Black's Fork, near Fort Bridges. 
Meanwhile, however, the President had despatched Thomas L. Kane 
of Pennsylvania with conciliatory letters to the Mormons. Going by 
way of California, he reached Utah in the spring of 1858, and in a 
short time succeeded in bringing about a good understanding between 
Governor Gumming and the insurgents. In the latter part of May, 
Governor Powell of Kentucky and Major McCuUoch of Texas ar- 
rived at the quarters of the army, bearing from the President a proc- 
lamation of pardon to all who would submit to the national authority. 
The passions of the Mormons had by this time somewhat subsided 
and they accepted the overture. In the fall of 1858 the army pro- 
ceeded to Salt Lake City, but was soon afterwards quartered at Camp 
Floyd, forty miles distant. The Federal forces remained at this place 
until order was entirely restored, and in May of 1860 were withdrawn 
from the Tei'ritory. 

Earlv ill 1858 an American vessel, while innocently exploring 
the Paraguay Eiver, in South America, was fired on by a jealous gar- 
rison. When reparation for the insult was demanded, none was given, 
and the government of the United States was obliged to send out a 
fleet to obtain satisfaction. A commissioner was sent with the squad- 
ron who was empowered to offer liberal terms of settlement for the 
injury. The authorities of Paraguay quailed before the American 
flag, and suitable apologies were made for the wrong which had been 
committed. 

The 5th of August, 1858, was a memorable day in the history 
of the world. On that day was completed the laying of the first 
TELEGRAPHIC CABLE across the Atlantic Ocean. The successful ac- 
complishment of this great work was due in a large measure to the 
energiv and genius of Cvrus W. Field, a wcalthv merchant of New 
York. The cable, one thousand six hundred and forty miles in 
length, was stretched from Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, to Valentia 
Bay, Ireland. Telegraphic communication was thus established be- 
tween the Old AYorld and the New, and the fraternal greetings of 
peaceful nations were for the first time transmitted through the 
depths of the sea. 



BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION. 



477 



In 1858 Minnesota was added to the Union. The area of the new 
State was a little more than eighty-one thousand square miles, and its 
population at the date of admission a hundred and fifty thousand souls. 
In the next year Ore- 
gon, the thirty-tliird 
State, was admitted, 
with a population of 
forty-eight thousand, 
and an area of eighty 
thousand square miles. 
On the 4th of the pre- 
ceding March General 
Sam Houston of Texas 
bade adieu to the Sen- 
ate of the United 
States and retired to 
private life. His ca- 
reer had been marked 
by the strangest vicis- 
situdes. He was a 
Virginian by birth, 
but his youth was 
hardened among the 
mountains of Tennes- 
see. He gained a mil- 
itary fame in the Sem- 
inole War, then rose 

to political distinction, and was elected governor of his adopted State. 
Overshadowed with a domestic calamity, he suddenly resigned his office, 
left his home, and exiled himself among the Cherokees, by whom he was 
made a chief. Afterward he went to Texas, joined the patriots, and be- 
came a leading spirit in the struggle for independence. It was he who 
commanded in the decisive battle of San Jacinto; he who became first 
president of Texas, and also her first representative in the Senate of the 
United States. Through all the misfortunes, dangers and trials of hi 
life his character stood like adamant. 

In the fall of 1859 the people of the United States were called 
to mourn the death of Washington lEriNG, the Prince of Amer- 
ican Letters. For full fifty years the powers of his sublime genius 
had been unremittingly devoted to the great work of creating for his 
native land a literature that should adorn and glorify his own and 




GENERAL SAM HOUSTON. 



478 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



after age: 



On both sidos of tlic Atlantic, in every civilized country, 
his name had become familiar as a Jiousehold word. He it was, first 
of all, who wrung from the reluctant and proscriptive reviews of 

Enjj-land and Scot- 
land an acknowledg- 
ment of tiie power 
and originality of 
Aniercan genius. The 
literature of the New 
World was no longer 
a scoff and a by-word 
when Murray, the 
bookseller of London, 
was obliged to pay 
for the raanuscrijjt of 
" Bracebridge Hall " 
— which he had not 
yet seen — the sum of 
a thousand guineas. 
Except Sir AYalter 
Scott and Lord Byron 
no other author of 
Irving's times re- 
ceived such a munifi- 
cent reward for his labor — no other was so much praised and loved. 
Whether as humorist or writer of prose fiction, historian or biogra- 
pher, his name ranks among the nolilest and brightest of the world. 
When the petty revolutions of society and the bloody conflicts of the 
battle field are forgotten, the monument which the affections of his 
countrymen have reared to the memory of the illustrious Irving shall 
stand unshaken and untarnished, transmitting to all after times the 
record of his virtues and achievements. 

From the beginning the new administration had stormy times 
The slavery question continued to vex the nation. The Dred Scott 
Decision, to which the President had looked as a measure calculated 
to allay the excitement, had only added fuel to the flame. In some 
of the Free States the opposition rose so high that Personal Lib- 
erty Bills were passed, the object of which was to defeat the exe- 
cution of the Fugitive Slave law. In the fall of 1859 the excitement 
was still further increased by the nuid attempt of John Brown of 
Kansas to excite a general insurrection among the slaves. With a 




WASHINGTON IRVING. 



BUCHANAX'S ADMINISTRATION. 471^ 

party of twenty-one men as daring as himself, he made a sudden d'!- 
scent on the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, captured the 
place, and held his ground for nearly two days. The national troops 
and the militia of Virginia were called out in order to suppress the 
revolt. Thirteen of Brown's men were killed, two made their escape, 
and the rest were cai^tured. The leader and his six companions were 
given over to the authorities of Virginia, tried, condemned and 
hanged. In Kansas the old controversy still continued, but the Free 
Soil party gained ground so rapidly as to make it certain that slavery 
would be interdicted from the State. All these facts and events 
tended to widen the breach between the people of the North and the 
South. Such was the alarming condition of affairs when the time 
arrived for holding the nineteenth presidential election. 

The canvass was one of intense excitement. Four candidates 
were presented. The choice of the Peoj)le's party — now called Re- 
publican — was Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. The platform of prin- 
ciples adopted by this party again declared opposition to the extension 
of slavery to be the vital issue. In the month of April the Democratic 
convention assembled at Charleston. The delegates were divided on 
tlie cpiestion of slavery, and after much debating the party was dis- 
rupted. The Southern delegates, unable to obtain a distinct expres- 
sion of their views in the platform of principles, and seeing that the 
Northern wing was determined to nominate Mr. Douglas — the great 
defender of popular sovereignty — withdrew from the convention. The 
rost continued in session, balloted for a while for a candidate, and on 
the 3d of May adjourned to Baltimore, where the delegates, reassem- 
bling on the 18th of June, chose Douglas as their standard-bearer in 
the approaching canvass. The seceding delegates adjourned first to 
Richmond, and afterwards to Baltimore, where they met on the 28th 
of June and nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. The 
American party — now known as Constitutional Unionists — chose 
John Bell of Tennessee as their candidate. The contest resulted in 
the election of Mr. Lincoln. He received the electoral votes of all 
the Northern States except those of New Jersey, which were divided 
between himself and his two opponents. The support of the South- 
ern States was for the most part given to Breckinridge. The States 
of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee cast their ballots, thirty-nine 
in number, for Mr. Bell. Mr. Douglas received a large popular but 
small electoral vote, his supporters being scattered through all the 
States without the concentration necessary to carry any. Thus after 
controlling the destinies of the Re]uiblic for sixty years, with only 



480 HISTORY OF THE UMTED STATES. 

the temporary overthrow of 1840, the Democratic party was broken 
into fragments and driven from the field. 

The result of the election had been anticipated. The leaders of the 
South had openly declared that the choice of Lincoln M'ould l)e regarded 
as a just cause for the dissolution of the Union. The Kepublicans of the 
populous North crowded to the polls, and their favorite was chosen. As 
to the government, it was under the control of the Douglas Democracy ; 
l)ut a majority of the cabinet and u large number of senators and repre- 
sentatives in Congress were supporters of Mr. Breckinridge and the advo- 
cates of disunion as a justifial)]e measure. It was now evident that with 
the incoming of the new administration all the departments of the govern- 
ment would pass under the control of the Republican party. The times 
were full of passion, animosity and rashness. It was seen that disunion 
was now possible, and that the possibility would shortly be removed. The 
attitude of the President favored the measure. He was not himself a 
disunionist. He denied the right of a State to secede ; but at the same 
time he declared himself not armed with the constitutional power neces- 
sary to prevent secession by force. The interval, therefore, between the 
presidential election in November of 1860 and the inauguration of the 
following spring ^vas seized by the leaders of the South as the opportune 
moment for dissolving the Union. 

The actual work of secession began in South Carolina. On the 
ITtli of Decembei-, 1860, a convention assembled at Charleston, and after 
three days of deliberation passed a resolution that the union hitherto 
existing between South Carolina and the other States, under the name of 
the United States of America, was dissolved. It was a step of fearful 
importance. The action M'as contagious. The sentiment of disunion 
spread with great ra})idity. The cotton-growing States were almost 
unanimous in support of the measure. By the 1st of February, 1861, 
six other States — Mississijipi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and 
Texas — had passed ordinances of secession and withdrawn from the 
Union. Nearly all of the senators and representatives of those States, 
following the action of their constituents, resigned their seats in Congress 
and gave themselves to the disunion cause. 

In the secession conventions there Mas but little opposition to the 
movement. In some instances a considerable minority vote was east. A 
few of the speakers boldly denounced disunion as bad in principle and 
ruinous in its results. The course of Alexander H. Stephens, afterward 
Vice-President of the Confederate States, was peculiar. In the con- 
vention of Georgia he undertook the task of jireventiug the secession of 
his State. He delivered a long and powerful oration in which he de- 



B UCHANAN'S ADMINISTBA TIQX. 



481 



fended the theory of secession, advocated the doctrine of State sove- 
reignty, declared his intention of abiding by the decision of the conven- 
tion, but at the same 
time spoke against se- 
cession, on the ground 
that the measure was 
mpolitic, unwise, dis- 
astrous. Not a few 
prominent men at the 
South held similar 
views; but the oppo- 
site opinion prevailed, 
and secessioi) was ac- 
complished. 

On the 4th of 
February, 1861, dele- 
gates from six of the 
seceded States assem- 
bled at Montgomery, 
Alabama, and formed 
a n e M' government, 
under the name of 
The Confederate 
States of America. 
On the 8th of the 
month the government 

M'as organized by the election of Jefferson Davie of Mississippi as jirovis- 
ional President, and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice-President. On the 
same day of the meeting of the Confederate Congress, at Montgomery, a 
peace conference assembled at Washington. Delegates from twenty-one 
States were present; certain amendments to the Constitution were pro- 
posed and laid before Congress for adoption, but that body gave little heed 
to the measures suggested, and the conference adjourned without practical 
results. 

The country seemed on the verge of ruin. The national govern- 
cient was for the time being paralyzed. The army was stationed in de- 
tachments on remote frontiers. The fleet was scattered in distant seas. 
The President was distracted with hesitancy and the advei-se counsels of 
his friends. With the exception of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 
Charleston Harljor, Fort Pickens near Pensacola, and Fortress Monroe in 
the Chesapeake, all the important posts in the seceded States had beea 




ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. 



482 HISTOMY UF THE UNITED STATES. 

seized by tlie Confederate authorities, even before the organization of their 
government. All this while the local warfare in Kansas had continued ; 
but the Free State party had at last gained the ascendency, and the early 
admission of the new commonwealth, with two additional Republican 
senators, was foreseen. Early in January the I-'resident made a feeble 
attempt to reinforce and provision the garrison of Fort Sumter. Tlu 
steamer Star of the West was sent with men and supplies, but in approach- 
ing the harbor of Charleston was fired on by a Confederate battery and 
compelled to return. Thus in gloom and grief, and the upheavals of 
revolution, the administration of Buchanan drew to a close. Such was 
the dreadful condition of aftairs that it was deemed prudent for the new 
President to apjjroach the capital without recognition. For the first time 
in the history of the nation the chief magistrate of the republic slipped 
into Washington city by night. 



CHAPTER LXI. 

LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION, AND THE CIVIL WAR, isei-iS65. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, sixteenth President of the United States, 
was a native of Kentucky, born in the county of Larue, on the 
12th of February, 1809. His ancestors had emigrated thither from 
Rockingham County, Virginia : both father and mother were Virgin- 
ians by birth. The childhood of the future President w'as passed in 
utter obscurity. In 1816 his father removed to Spencer County, In- 
diana — just then admitted into the Union — and built a cabin in the 
woods near the present village of Gentryville. Here was the scene 
of Lincoln's boyhood — a constant struggle with poverty, hardship, and 
toil. At the age of sixteen we find him managing a ferry across the 
Ohio, at the mouth of Anderson Creek — a service for which he was 
paid six dollars j)er month. In his youth he received in the aggregate 
about one year of schooling, which was all he ever had in the way of 
education. In the year of his majority he removed with his fothcr's 
family to the north fork of the Sangamon, ten miles west of Decatur, 
Illinois. Here another log-house was built and a small farm cleared 



LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRA TION. 



483 



and fenced; and here Abraham Lincohi began for himself the hard 
battle of life. 

The uncleared forest, the unbroken soil, 

The iron bark that turns the lumberer's axe, 
The rapid that o'erbears the boatman's toil, 

The prairie, hilling the mazed wanderer's track.!. 

The ambushed Indian, and the prowling bear;— 
Such were the needs that helped his youth to train — 

Eough culture ! — but such trees large fruit may bear, 
If but their stocks be of right girth and grain ! 



After serving as a flatboatman on the Mississippi, Lincoln re- 
turned to New Salem, twenty miles from Springfield, and became 
a clerk in a country 
store. Then, as cap- 
tain of a company of 
volunteers, he served 
in the Black Hawk 
war. From 1833 to 
1836 he was engaged 
in merchandising, but 
a dissolute partner 
brought him to bank- 
ruptcy. Turning his 
attention to the prac- 
tice of the law, for 
which pro f e s s i o n 
he had always had a 
liking, he gradually 
gained the attention 
of his fellow-men and 
.soon rose to distinc- 
tion. His j)eculiar 
power — manifested at 
all periods of his life — 
of seizing the most difficult thought and presenting it in such quaint 
and homely phrase as to make the truth appreciable by all men, made 
him a natural leader of the people. As candidate for the office of 
United States senator from Illinois he first revealed to the nation, in 
his great debates with Senator Douglas, the full scope and originality 
of his genius. Now, at the age of fifty-two, he found laid upon him 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



484 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

siK'li a burden of care and responsil)ility as liad not been l)orne by 
any ruler of modern times. On the occasion of his inauguration he 
delivered a long and thoughtful address, declaring his fixed purijose 
to uphold tlie Constitution, enforce the laws, and preserve the integ- 
rity of the Union. 

The new cal)inet was organized with William H. Seward of New 
York as secretary of state. Salmon P. Chase of Ohio was chosen sec- 
retary of the treasury, and Simon Cameron secretary of war ; but he, 
in the following January, was succeeded in office by Edwin M. Stan- 
ton. The secretaryship of the navy was conferred on Gideon Welles. 
In his inaugural address and first official papers the President indi- 
cated the policy of the new administration by declaring his purpose 
to repossess the forts, arsenals and public property which had been 
seized by the Confederate atithorities. It was with this purpose that 
the first military prejjarations were made. In the moan time, on the 
12th of March, an eifort was made by commissioners of the seceded 
States to obtain from the national government a recognition of their 
indejjendence ; but the negotiations were unsuccessful. Then followed 
a second attempt on the part of the government to reinforce the gar- 
rison of Fort Sumter; and with that came the beginning of actual 
hostilities. 

The defences of Charleston Harbor were held by Major Robert 
Anderson. His entire force amounted to seventy-nine men. Owing 
to the weakness of his garrison, he deemed it prudent to evacuate 
Fort Moultrie and retire to Sumter. Meanwhile, Confederate volun- 
teers had flocked to the city, and powerful batteries had been built 
about the hai-bor. When it became known that the Federal gov- 
ernment would reinforce the forts, the authorities of the Confederate 
States determined to anticipate the movement by compelling Ander- 
son to surrender. Accordingly, on the 11th of April, General P. T. 
Beauregard, commandant ot Charleston, sent a flag to Fort Sumter, 
demanding an evacuation. Major Anderson replied that he should 
hold the fortress and defend his flag. On the following morning, 
at half-past four o'clock, the first gun was fired from a Confederate 
battery. A terrific bombardment of thirty-four hours' duration fol- 
lowed ; the fort was reduced to ruins, set on fire, and obliged to ca- 
pitulate. The honors of war were granted to Anderson and his men, 
\ ho had made a brave and obstinate resistance. Although the can- 
nonade had been long continued and severe, no lives were lost either 
in the fort or on the shore. Thus the defences of Charleston Harbor 
were secured 1)V tiic Confederates. 



LIXCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION. 485 

The news of this startling event went tlirough the country like a 
flame of fire. There had been some expectation of violence, but the 
actual shock came like a clap of thunder. The people of the towns 
poured into the streets and the country folk tiocked to the villages 
to gather the tidings and to comment on the coming conflict. Gray- 
haired men talked gravely of the deed that was done, and prophesied 
of its consequences. Public opinion in both the North and the South 
was rapidly consolidated. Three days after the fall of Sumter Presi- 
dent Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to serve 
three months in the overthrow of the secession movement. Two days 
later Virginia seceded from the Union. On May 6th Arkansas followed 
the example, and then North Carolina on the 20th of the same month. 
In Tennessee — especially in East Tennessee — there was a powerful op- 
position to disunion, and it was not until the 8th of June that a secession 
ordinance could be passed. In Missouri, as will presently be seen, the 
movement resulted in civil war, while in Kentucky the authorities issued 
a proclamation of neutrality. The people of Maryland were divided 
into hostile parties, the disunion sentiment being largely prevalent. 

On the 19t]i of April, when the first regiments of Massachusetts 
volunteers were passing through Baltimore on their way to Washington, 
they were fired upon by the citizens, and three men killed. Tills was the 
first bloodshed of the war. On the day before this event a body of Con- 
federate soldiers advanced against the armory of the United States at 
Harper's Ferry. The officer in connnand hastily destroyed a portion of 
the vast magazine collected there, and then escaped into Pennsylvania. 
On the 20th of the month another company of Virginians assailed the 
great navy yard at Norfolk. The officers commanding fired the l)uild- 
ings and shij>s, sjiikcd the cannon and withdrew their forces. Most of 
the guns and many of the vessels were afterward recovered by the Con- 
federates, the property thus captured amounting to fully ten millions of 
dollars. So rapidly was Virginia filled with volunteers and troops from 
the South that, for a while, Washington city was in danger of being 
taken. But the cajjital was soon secured from i mediate danger; and 
on the 3d of May the President issued another call for soldiers. This 
time the number was set at eighty-three thousand, and the term of service 
at three years or during the war. Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott 
was made connnander-in-chief. As many war ships as could be provided 
were sent to blockade the Southern ports. On every side were heard the 
notes of ]ire])aration. In the seceded States there was boundless and in- 
cessant activity. Already the Southern Congress had adjourned from 
Montgomery, to meet on the 20tli of July at Richmond, -which waa 



486 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

chosen as the capital of the Confederacy. To that place had already 
come Mr. Davis and the officers of his cabinet, for the purpose of direct- 
ing the affairs of the government and the army. So stood the antag- 
onistic powers in the beginning of June, 1861. It was now evident to 
all men (how slow they had been to believe it !) that a great war, perhaps 
the greatest in modern times, was impending over the nation. It is 
appropriate to look briefly into the Causes of the approaching conflict. 



CHAPTER LXII. 

CA USES. 



THE first and most general cause of the civil war in the United States 
was tlie different consfrucfion put upon the national Constitution by the 
people of the North and the South. A difference of opinion had always 
existed as to how that instrument was to be undei-stood. The question 
at is.sue was as to the relation between the States and the general govern- 
ment. One party held that under the Constitution the Union of the 
States is indissoluble ; that the sovereignty of the nation is lodged in the 
central goverinnent ; tliat the States are subordinate ; that the acts of 
Congress, until they are repealed or pronounced unconstitutional by the 
supreme court, are l)inding on the States; that the highest allegiance of 
the citizen is due to the general government, and not to his own State ; 
and that all attempts at nullification and disunion are in their nature dis- 
loyal and treasonable. The other party held that the national Constitu- 
tion is a compact between sovereign States ; that for certain reasons the 
Union may be dissolved ; that the sovereignty of the nation is lodged in 
the individual States, and not in the central government; that Congress 
can exercise no other than delegated powers ; that a State feeling ag- 
grieved may annul an act of Congress ; that the highest allegiance of the 
citizen is due to his own State, and afterward to the general goverinnent ; 
and that acts of nullification and disunion are justifiable, revolutionary 
and honorable. 

Here was an issue in its consequences the most fearful that ever 
disturbed a nation. It struck right into the vitals of the government. 



LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION. 487 

It tlireateued with each renewal of the agitation to undo the whole civil 
structure of the United States. For a long time the parties who disputed 
about tlie meaning of the Constitution were scattered in various sections. 
In the earlier history of tiie country the doctrine of State sovereignty was 
most advocated in New England. With the rise of the tariff question 
the position of parties changed. Since the tariff — a congressional mea- 
sure — favored the Eastern States at the expense of the South, it came to 
pass naturally that the people of New England passed over to the advo- 
cacy of national sovereignty, while the people of the South took up the 
doctrine of State rights. Thus it happened that as early as 1831 the right 
of nullifying an act of Congress was openly advocated in South Carolina, 
and thus also it happened that the belief in State sovereignty became more 
prevalent in the South than in the North. These facts tended powerfully 
to produce sectional parties and to bring them into conflict. 

A second general cause of the civil war was the different system of 
■labor in the North and in the South. In the former section the laborers 
were freemen, citizens, votei"s ; in the latter, bondmen, property, slaves. 
In the South the theory was that the capital of a country should own the 
labor ; iu the North that both labor and capital ai'e free. In the begin- 
ning all the colonies had been slaveholding. In the Eastern and INIiddle 
States the system of slave-labor was gradually abolished, being unprofit- 
able. In the five great States formed out of the North-western Territory 
slavery was excluded by the original compact under which that Territory 
was organized. Thus there came to be a dividing line drawn through 
the Union east and west. It was evident, therefore, that whenever the 
question of slavery was agitated a sectional division would arise between 
the parties, and that disunion and war would be threatened. The danger 
arising from this source was increased and the discord between the sections 
aggravated by several subordinate causes. 

The first of these was the invention of the Cotton Gin. In 
1793, Eli Whitney, a young collegian of Massachusetts, went to Georgia, 
and resided with the family of Mrs. Greene, widow of General Greene, 
of the Revolution. While there his attention was directed to the tedious 
and difficult process of picking cotton by hand — that is, sejjarating the 
seed from the fibre. So slow was the process that the production of up- 
land cotton was nearly profitless. The industry of the cotton-growing 
States was paralyzed by the tediousness of preparing the product for the 
market. j\Ir. Whitney undertook to remove the difficulty, and succeeded 
in inventing a gin which astonished the beholder by the rapidity and 
excellence of its work. From being profitless, cotton became the most 
profitable of all the staples. The industry- of the South was revolution- 



48» HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ized. Before the civil war it was estimated that A\'hitney"s gin had 
added a thousand millions of dollars to the revenues of the Southern 
States. The American crop had grown to be seven-eighths of all the 
cotton produced in the world. Just in proportion to the increased ])rofit- 
ableness of cotton slave-labor became important, slaves valuable and the 
system of slavery a fixed and deep-rooted institution. 

From this time onward there was constant danger that the slavery 
question would so embitter the politics and legislation of the country as 
to bring about disunion. The danger of such a result was fully mani- 
fested in THE Misscn-Ri Agitation of 1820-21. Threats of dissolving 
the Union were freely made in both the North and the South — in the 
North, because of the proposed enlargement of the domain of slavery'; in 
the South, because of the proj)osed rejection of Missouri as a slave-holding 
State. When the Missouri Compromise was enacted, it was the hope of 
Mr. Clay and his fellow-statesmen to save the Union by removing for ever 
the slavery question from the politics of the country. In that they suc- 
ceeded for a while. 

Next came the Nullification Acts of South Carolina. And 
these, too, turned upon the institution of slavery and the profitableness of 
cotton. The Southern States had become cotton-producing ; the Eastern 
States had given themselves to manufacturing. The tariff measures 
favored manufactures at the expense of producers. Mr. Calhoun and his 
f"iends proposed to remedy the evil complained of by annulling tlie laws 
of Congress. His measures fliiled ; but another eonij)romise was found 
necessary in order to allay the animosities which had been awakened. 

The Annexation of Texas, with the consequent eidargement of 
the domain of slavery, led to a renewal of the agitation. Those who 
0})posed the Mexican War did so, not so much because of the injustice of 
the conflict as because of the fact that thereby slavery would be extended. 
Then, at the close of the war, came another enormous acquisition of 
territory. Whether the .same should be made into free or slave-holding 
States was the question next agitated. This controversy led to the passage 
of the Omnibus Bill, by which again for a brief period the excitement 
was allayed. 

In 1854 the Kansas-Nebra.ska bill was passed. Thereby the 
Missouri Compromise was repealed and the whole question opened anew. 
Meanwhile, the character and the civilization of the Northern and the 
Southern people had become quite difierent. In population and wealth 
the North had far outgrown the South. In the struggle for territorial 
dominion the North had gained a considerable advantage. In 1860 the 
division of the Democratic party made certain the election of Mr. Lincoln 



CHART VI, NATIONAL PERIOD- 



1857 


61 


65 


69 


Frederick Williani 


IV. 


66. \%'ar between 


l>rnssia 71. King 1 






:iii4l AuNtria* 


Em 
70. Beginning of tl 






67. Hanover 


absorbed by Prussia. 


m. Tre 


aty of Peace between Chi 


iia and England. 




IVNi»oleon III. 




68. For 


mation of a Nortli Gei 




61. William I. 


6,5. Fenian troubles in Ire 


land. 70. p^ Sedan. 

70. Downfall of J 


Vl<-torin. 


62. Death of Friiic 


e Albert, the Consoi-t. 


^l-KllJ-e? 






68. Pas 


sage of the Reform Bill 

70. Disc'stalilislim 

71. Bill forb 


5S. Mutiny iu the E 


ast India array. 




72. P 


JAMES BUCHAKAN, 


ABR AII.AM I.IXCUI.IV 


President. 


UliYSSES S. CRA.M 


President. 


Hannibal Hamlin. Vi 


ce- President. 


Schnyler Colfax, Vi 


Jobn C.Breckinrldgre, 


Ul. Ten of the ooutlieru S 


tales secede. 


69. The Pacific Ilailroa 


Vice-President. 


61. Tlie"Starof the West" 


fired upon. 


69. Edwin M. Stanton d 


.57. Tlie Dred Scott De- 


61. @ Fall 0/ Port Sumte 


,._ 66. The Atlantic Ca 


blelaid. 

70. Tlie Fifleentl 


cision 


61. Tlie President calls lor 


7.1,000 volunteei-s. 


70. Robert E. Le 




61. The Confederate Cong 


ress at Montgomery. 


70. Admiral Farr 


.57. Personal Liberty BUI. 


61. The President calls for 
u, tm ^"U Run. 
"l- Mi Ball's Bluff. 


.500,000 men. 


70. Virginia, Mis. 






70. Population, , 




62. pi Mill Spring. 


()5. Reoonstructionof the 


seceded States undertak( 


57. The Mormon rebellion 


ANURKW .lOHX.SOK 


President after April 1 


ill Utah. 


61. Mason &SIideUc:i|)t'd. 


65. Amnesty Proclain 


ntlon. 




61. Kansas admitted into 


the Union. 






r:'> K>l Fort Donels 
"^- Pi Pittsburg La 


on- 66. Tennessee re-ad 


milled into the Union 


58. The first Atlan- 


nding. 




tic Telegraph 


™ Ifpj The Monitor 
8-- ga the Mrrri 


and 




Oable. 


mac. 67. Purchase 


of Alaslja. 




a.t K^ Murfrecsbor 
*>- pli Front Royal 


ougti. 




oS. Minnesota ad- 
mitted into the 
Union. 


and Port Republic. 




,.,, in--, Fair Oaks. 
--' U_i Seven Days' 


68. Imp 
battles. 68. The 


eaclimeut of Pre.sident . 
Fourteenth .\inendmen 


62. f^ Antietanl. 


68. Arli 


ansas, Alabama, Ueorgi 


60. Wal 


Iter's fililms- 6:!.TIieEma 


ncination Proclainat 

of 1 icksburg. 


ion. 


teri 


ug schemes ,.., lOl Siege 
eated. ^^- Pi Chick 


71. Burning 


def 


amauga. 




58. The great camp 
Mr. Lincoln an 


aigu of „., f .Ti Lnoko 
d Senator "'• U-i .Vm/o 


ut Miiuniain. 


69 Great monetary pan 


nary Riitge. 




Douglas. 


(a. WeHl Vir 


piiiia a'lmitted into the 


Union. 72. Tl 




«3.PiS;?- 


*;/" Knnxrille. 


72. W 




an's raid. 


72. « 


68. Troubles with P 


araguay. „,j_ ^ Chan 


cellorsville. 






nvades Pennsylvania. 




59. Washiugt 


on Irving <^3. P| «<>%, 


burg. 


72. H 


died, age 


d 76. 6:!. The Presi 


dent orders a draft for 200, 


000 troops. 72. G( 




61. Tbe 


President calls for 300,000 


men. 72. G 




e Japanese Com- r*4 


Italian, Resaca. 


72. Bi 


60. Til 


Dallas, Kenesaw. 




m 

V 


ission in the .., Wii 
iiited States. "^- Mi 


Siege 0/ Atlanta. 




60. Di 


sruption of the ^' V^X 


Franklin. 

yashrille. 67. Nebraska 


admitted into the Unio 


D 


emocralic Party 64. She 


rniaiiN march. 




at 


CharleslOQ. ,^ ^ 


Fort M'Allister. 
Petersburg. 






pulation, 31,443,231. g^ ^ 


Mobile Bay. 




60. Po 


Fort Fisher. 






64!^ 


The Alabama and the Ke 


arsarge. 


60. De 


feat of the Dem- o, |Ci) 
ratio party. "• k-Si 


The Wilderness. 




oc 


Cold Harbor 






64. 1,1 


NCOLSr re-elected. 




60. So 


uth Carolina secedes. 


(i.5 IRl ^^^'^ Forks. 

"•'• tii\ Lee's surrender. 




58. Oregon 


admitted into the 


6.5. President Lincoln assa 


ssinated. 


Union. 61. Ne 


vaila admitted into the 


Union. 


i 


62. French invasion 


of Mexico. 


1 


I -57. DLstracted condition of 


affairs m Mexico. 




1 


• 


64. Ma 


xinillian eleete<^l Eniper 


or. 






67. The Frenc 


h army withdrawn. 






67. Maximil 


ian executed at Q.ni 



IIRD SECTION, A. D. 1857-1888. 



77 



81 



85 



1888 



m proclaimed 
iiot-Prnssinn War 



'onfederatiou. 

I'lie Irisli University 
74. Oveitliiow of th 
7J. Uisrnell, Prim 



»iii III. 



ins; 

Vace. 



tlie Irish Church. 

tlic sale of Coiuissio 
;ou of the United Kin 



77. The ICusso-Tnrkista 

7? 1^ Capture o/ Plevna 
"■ N'i Collapse of the Ot 

78. Treaty of San 
7S. Treaty of Bcr 

Bill defeated. 

e Gladstone Ministry. 

e Minister. 

79. The Zulu 
79. Death of 
79. Death of 
79. Accession 
79. Overthrow 
79. Gladstone 
SO. Bril 

U.S. 

;dom, 31,^1,480. 



ident. 
idciit. 
pleted. 
:ed iKi. 

fndinent adoptetl. 

, aged 63. 

ed, aged 69. 

, and Texas re-admitt 

1. 

he President. 



ed into the Union. 



ited. 

Ida, Louisiana, North 



:iicago. 

lew Yoik City, 

ibaiiia ClaiiUN settl ed. 
H. Sewai'd died, aged 71. 
r re-elected. 

iiry Wilson, Vice. 

31'eeley died, aged 61. 
George G. Meade died 
'e in Boston, 
•y dispute between 

Hodoc War. 

[^he Credit Mobilier in 
;^hief-Justice Chase di 
Sreat financial crisis, 

74. Charles Sumner 

76. I'he 

76. The 
76. €o 
76. Cen 



RCTHERFOHD B. H 

William A. Wlicelor, 



The disputed Presiden 
. New policy adopted 
77. Tlie great Kailroad Str 



War bi'eaks out. 
by the Russians, 
toman Empire. 

Stefano. 



__. IlfVoIutidU j[) Bul^'aria. 

87. Emperor William cele- 
brates 90tb birthday, 
Uueen Victoria's Jubi- 
lee. 

Death of Kaiarr Wil- 
liam. 



War. 

the Prince Imperial. 
Pius IX. 
of Leo XIII. 
of tile DiSi'aeli Ministry. 
Premier of England, 
ish tioubles in Afghanista 
SI. Assassination of the Czar of Russia. 
Si. Accession of Alexandler III. 
87, Sadi-Cnrnot, French iPresldeiit. 



AYES, President. 

Vice-President. 

.IA3II<:SA.«ARFIEI.I», President. 

«'lie»ter A. A rthnr, Vice-President. 

cy IS settled b.v a Joint Hierli Commission. 

toward the Southern States. 

ikes and Riots. 

81, President Garlicju assaS|Sinated. 



77. The STez Perce War. 



Great financial depres 
. Oliver P, Morton died. 



78. The act remonet 
78. The Halifax Fis 
lai-s against the 
78. William Cullen 
78. The Yellow Fey 
78, Bayard Taylor 
78. Establishment 
78. The Life-saving 
Carolina, and South Carol 



hery Commission make 

United States. 
Bryant died, aged 84. 
er scourges the Southern 
died, aged 54, 
of a Cliinese Embassy in 

Service established by the 
ina re-admitted iutothe 



79, Resumpti 
77-79. Tour of 
79, Zaeliariah 



80. The 
80. The 



on of Specie Payments byi tbe Government. 
General Grant around thje world. 
Chandler died. 



President, died Novemb 

aged 57. 
the United States and Gre 



vestigatlon. 
ed, aged 65. 

died, aged VR. 

Kionx War. 

Custer Massacre. 
orado admitted into the 
teiinial 4'elebratiou at 



1887. Fisheries Dispute 
wit.'i Canada. 



ion in the country. 






aged 54. 
CHESTER A.ABTHURI' President after September 

19, 18,51. ( 

izing silver passed by Con gress. 



an award of 5,.')00,000 del- 



States. 

the United States. 

Government. 

Union. 



RefundingQuestion in Congress. 
Tentli Census: Population, 50,152,866. 



er 22, 1875. 



at Britain settled. 



81. Matt, H, Carpenter 

83. Brooklyn Bridge opened 

84. New Orleans Exposition 



CLBVE- 

Presldent, 

reform 



Union. 
Philadelphia. 



85. 6ROVEB 
LAND, 

Marcli 4. 

85. Civil Service 
prominent. 

I. General Grant dies. 
I. Charleston earthquake 
i. Statue of Libertv un- 
veiled. 

86. John A, Logan dies, 

died. 

86. Fall of Gladstone Ministry 

86. Maiquis of Salisbury 

Premier of England. 

86. Passage of Septennate 
Military Bill by German 
Keichstag, 

87. Land troubles in Ireland. 
87. Jubilee of Queen Vit-turia. 
87. Reaction in favor of the 

Gladstone Land-Bill. 
87. Overthrow of Freycinet 

Ministry in France, 
87. Hesignatiuu of President 

Grevy. 
37. Dismissal from oflQce of 

Gen. Boulanger, 

87. Emperor William cele- 
brates his ninetieth birth- 
day, 

88, Death of EmperorWilliam 
and Accession of Fred- 
erick III. 



LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION. 48& 

by the votes of the Northern States. The ]5eople of the South were 
exasperated at the choice of a chief-magistrate whom they regarded as 
indifferent to their welfare and hostile to their interests. 

The third general cause of the civil war was the loant of intercourse 
between the people of the North and the South. The great railroads and 
thoroughfares ran east and west. Emigration flowed from the East to the 
West. Between the North and the South there was little travel or inter- 
change of opinion. From want of acquaintance the people, without in- 
tending it, became estranged, jealous, suspicious. They misjudged each 
other's motives. They misrcjirescnted each other's beliefs and purposes. 
They suspected each other of dishonesty and ill-will. Before the out- 
break of the war the people of the two sections looked upon each other 
almost in the light of different nationalities. 

A fourth cause was found in the publication of sectional books. Dur- 
ing the twenty years preceding the war many works were published, both 
in the North and the South, whose popularity depended wholly on the 
animosity existing between the two sections. Such books were generally 
filled with ridicule and falsehood. The manners and customs, language 
and beliefs, of one section were held up to the contempt and scorn of the 
people of the other section. The minds of all classes, especially of the 
young, were thus prejudiced and poisoned. In the North the belief was 
fostered that the South was given up to inhumanity, ignorance and bar- 
barism, while in the South the opinion prevailed that the Northern people 
were a selfish race of mean, cold-blooded Yankees. 

11. Tlie evil influence of dcmarfogucs may be cited as the fifth general 
cause of the war. It is the misfortune of republican governments that 
they many times fall under the leadership of bad men. In the United 
States the demagogue has enjoyed sjieeial opportunities for mischief, and 
the people have suffered in proportion. From 1850 to 18G0 American 
statesmanship and patriotism were at a low ebb. Many ambitious and 
scheming men had come to the front, taken control of the political parties 
and proclaimed themselves the loaders of public opinion. Their purposes 
were wholly selfish. The welfare and peace of the country were put aside 
a"? of no value. In order to gain power and keep it many unprincipled 
men in the South were anxious to destroy the Union, while the dema- 
gogues of the North were willing to abuse the Union in order to accom- 
plish their own bad purposes. Such, in brief, were the causes which led 
to the civil war, one of the most terrible conflicts of modern times. 



-I at) 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER LXIII. 



FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. 



ON the 24tli of IMay the Union army erossed the Potomac from Wash- 
ington city to Alexandria. At this time Fortress Monroe, at the 
mouth of James River, was held by twelve thousand men, under command 
of General B. F. Butler. At Bethel Church, in the immediate vicin- 
ity, was stationed a detachment of Con- 
federates commanded by General Ma- 
gruder. On the lOtb of June a body 
of Union troops was sent to dislodge 
them, but was repulsed with consider- 
able loss. Meanwhile the conquest of 
West Virginia had been undertaken 
by General George B. M'Clellan. 

In the last days of May General T. 
A. Morris moved iiirward from Parkers- 
burg to Grafton with a force of Oiiio and 
Indiana troops, and on the 3d of June 
came upon the Confederates stationed at 




SCENE OF OPEKATIONS IN WEST 
VIliGlNIA, 1S61. 



Philipi)i. After a brief engngenient the 



Federals were successful ; the Confede- 
rates retreated toward the mountains. General McClellan now arrived, 
took command in person, and on the 11th of July gained a victory at Rich 
Mountain. General Garnett, the Confederate commander, fell back with 
his forces to Carrick's Ford, on Cheat River, made a stand, was again de- 
feated and himself killed in the battle. On the 10th of August General 
Floyd, conuuanding a detachment of Confederates at Carnifex Ferry, on 
Gauley River, was attacked by General Rosecrans and obliged to retreat. 
On the 14th of September a division of Confederates under General Rob- 
ert E. Lee was beaten in an engagement at Cheat Mountain — an action 
which completed the restoration of Federal authority in West Virginia. 
In the mean time, other movements of va-st importance had taken place. 

In the beginning of June General Robert Patterson marched from 
Chambersburg with the intention of recapturing Harper's Ferry. On 
the 11th of the month a division of the armv commanded by Colonel 



FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. 



491 



Lewis Wallace made a sudden and successful onset upon a detachment 
of Confederates stationed at Romney. Patterson then crossed the Poto- 
mac with the main body, entered the Shenandoah Valley, and pressed 
back the Confederate forces to Winchester. Thus far there hatl been 
only petty engagements, skirmishes and marching. The time had now 
come when the first great battle of the war was to be fought. 

After the Union successes in West Virginia the main body of the 
Confederates, under command of General Beauregard, was concentrated 
at Manassas Junction, on the Orange Railroad, twenty-seven miles west 
of Alexandria. Another large force, commanded by General Joseph E. 
Johnston, was within supporting distance in the Shenandoah Valley. The 
Union army at Alexandria was commanded by General Irwin McDowell, 
while General Patterson was stationed in front of Johnston to watch his 
movements and prevent his forming 
a junction with Beauregard. On the 
16th of July the national army moved 
forward. Two days afterward an 
unimportant engagement took ])lace 
between Centreville and Bull Run. 
The Unionists then pressed on, and on 
the morning of the 21st came upon 
the Confederate army, strongly posted 
between Bull Run and ]Manassas 
Junction. A general battle ensued, 
continuing with great severity until 
noonday. At that hour the advan- 
tage was with McDoweU, an<l it 
seemed not unlikely that the Confed- vicinity of manassas juNcnoN, i86i. 
erates would suffer a complete defeat. 

But in the crisis of the battle General Johnston arrived with nearly six 
thousand fresh troops from the Shenandoah Valley. The tide of victory 
turned immediately, and in a short time McDowell's whole army was 
hurled back in utter rout and confusion. A ruinous panic spread through 
the defeated host. Soldiers and citizens, regulars and volunteers, horsemen 
and footmen, rolled back in a disorganized mass into the defences of 
Washington. The Union loss in killed, wounded and prisoners amounted 
to two thousand nine hundred and fifty-two ; that of the Confederates to 
two thousand and fifty. 

Great was the humiliation of the North, and greater the rejoicing of 
the South. For a while the Federal government was more concerned about 
its own safety than about the conquest of Richmond. In that city, on the 




492 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



day before the battle, tlie new Confederate government was org-.uiized. Ib 
the Southern Congress and cabinet were many men of distinguished abil- 
ities. Jefferson Davis, the President, was a far-sighted man, of wide expe- 
rience in the afiairs of state, and considerable reputation as a soldier. He 
had led the troops of Mississippi in the Mexican War, had served in both 
houses of the national Congress, and as a member of President Pierce's 
cabinet. His talents, decision of character and ardent advocacy of State 

rights had made him a 
natural leader of the 
South. 

The next milita- 
ry movements were 
made in Missouri. 
That commonwealth, 
though slaveholding, 
still retained its place 
in the Union. A con- 
vention, called b y 
Governor Jackson in 
accordance Mith an act 
of the legislature, had 
in the i)revious March 
-N, refused to pass an or- 
dinance of secession. 
-, / The disuniouists, how- 



and powerful; the 
governor favored their 
cause, and the State 
became a battle-field 
for the contending 
parties. Both Federal and Confederate camps were organized, and hos- 
tilities began in several places. By capturing the United States arsenal 
at Liberty, in Clay county, the Confederates obtained a considerable sup- 
ply of arms and aniinunition. By the formation of Camp Jackson, near 
St. Louis, the arsenal in that city was also endangered ; but by the vigi- 
lance of Captain Nathaniel Lyon the arms and stores were sent up the 
river to Alton, and thence to Springfield. Camp .Jackson was soon after- 
ward broken up by the exertions of the same officer. 

The lead-mines in the south-west part of the State became an object 
of great importance to the Confederates, who, in order to secure tliem, 




JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



FIRST YEAR OF THE ]VAR. 



493 



hurried up large bodies of troops from Arkansas and Texas. On the 17th 
of June Lyon encountered Governor Jackson with a Confederate force at 
Booneville, and gained a decided advantage. On the 6th of July the 
Unionists, led by Colonel Franz Sigel, were again successful in a severe 
engagement Avith the governor at Carthage. On the 10th of August the 
hardest battle thus far fought iu the West occurred at Wilson's Creek, a 
short distance south of Springfield. General Lyon made a daring but 
rash attack on a much superior force of Confederates under command of 
Generals McCullough and Price. The Federals at first gained the field 
against heavy odds, but General Lyon was killed, and his men retreated 
under direction of Sigel. 

General Price now 
pressed northward across the 
State to Lexington, on the 
Missouri Hiver. This place 
was defended by a force of 
Federals two thousand six 
hundred strong, commanded 
by Colonel Mulligan. A 
stubborn defence was made 
by the garrison, but IMulligan 
was soon obliged to capitulate. 
Price then turned southward, 
and on the 16th of October 
Lexington was retaken by 
the Federals. General John 
C. Fremont, who had been 
appointed to the command of 

the Union forces in Missouri, followed the Confederates as far as Spring- 
field, and was on the eve of making an attack, when he was superseded 
by General Hunter. The latter, after retreating to St. Louis, was in turn 
superseded by General Halleck on the 18th of November. It was now 
Price's turn to fall back toward Arkansas. The only remaining move- 
ment of importance was at Belmont, on the ]\Iississippi. 

The Confederate general Polk, acting under orders of his govern- 
ment, had, notwithstanding that State's neutrality, entered Kentucky with 
an army, and had captured the town of Columbus. Batteries planted liere 
commanded the Mississip]ii. The Confederates gathered in force at Bel- 
mont, on the opposite bank. In order to dislodge them Colonel Ulys- 
ses S. Grant, with a brigade of three thousand Illinois troops, was sent by 
way of Cairo into Missouri. On the 7th of November he made a vigor- 




SCENE OF OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTH-WEST, 1S61. 



494 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ous and successful attack on the Confederate camp ; but General Polk 
sent reinforcements across the river, the guns of Columbus were brought 
to bear on the Union position, and Grant was obliged to retreat. 

The rout at Bull Run had the effect to quicken the energies of the 
North, and troops were rapidly hurried to Washington. The aged Gen- 
eral Scott, unable to bear the burden resting upon him, retired from active 
duty, and General McClellau was called from West Virginia to take com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac. By the middle of October liis forces 
had increased to a hundred and fifty thousand men. On the 21st of that 
month a brigade, numbering nearly two thousand, was thrown across the 
Potomac at Ball's Bluff'. Witliout proper support or means of retreat, 
the Federals were attacked by a strong force of Confederates under Gen- 
eral Evans, driven to the river, their leader. Colonel Baker, killed, and 
the whole force routed with terrible loss. Fully eight hundred of Baker's 
men wer? killed, wounded or taken prisoners. 

During the summer of 1861 the Federal government sent to sea 
several important naval expeditions. One of these, commanded by Com- 
modore Stringham and Geneial Butler, proceeded to the North Carolina 
coast, and on the 29th of August captured the forts at Hatteras Inlet. 
On the 7th of November a second armament, under command of Com- 
modore Dnpont and General Thom;is W. Sherman, entered the harbor of 
Port Royal, and captured Forts Walker and Beauregard. Hilton Head, 
a point most advantageous for military ojierations against Charleston and 
Savannaii, thus fell into the power of the Federals. Around the whole 
coast the blockade became so rigorous that commerce and connnunication 
between the Confederate States and fireign nations were almost wholly 
cut off". In this juncture of affairs a difficulty arose which brought the 
United States and Great Britain to the very verge of war. 

The Confederate government had appointed James M. Mason and 
John Slidcll, formerly senators of the United States, to go abroad tis am- 
bassadors from the Confederate States to France and England. The envoys 
went on board a blockade runner, and escaping from Charleston Harbor, 
reached Havana in safety. At that port they took passage on the British 
mail steamer Trent, and sailed for Europe. On the 8th of November 
the vessel was overtaken by the United States frigate San Jacinto, com- 
manded by Captain Wilkes. The Trent was hailed and boarded; the 
two ambassadors and their secretaries were seized, transferred to the San 
Jacinto, carried to Boston, and imprisoned. The Trent proceeded on her 
way to England ; the story of the insult to the British flag w:is told, and 
the whole kingdom burst out in a blaze of wrath. 

At first the people of the United States loudly applauded Captain 



CAMPAIGNS OF '62. 



495 



Wilkes, and the government was disposed to defend his action 
such a course been taken, war would have been inevitable, 
was saved from the 
peril by the adroit and 
far-reaching diploma- 
cy of William H. Sew- 
ard, the secretary of 
state. When Great 
Britain demanded rep- 
aration for the insult 
and the immediate lib- 
eration of the prison- 
ers, he replied in a 
mild, cautious and very 
able paper. It was con- 
ceded that the seizure 
of Mason and Slidell 
Avas not justifiable ac- 
cording to the law of 
nations. A suitable 
ajiology was made for 
the wrong done, the 
Confederate ambassa- 
dors were liberated, 
put on board a vessel 
and sent to their des- 
tination. This action 
jieril of war went by, 



Had 
The country 




WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 



of the secretary was both just and politic. The 
and Great Britain was committed to a policy in 
regard to the rights of neutral flags which she had hitherto denied and 
which the United States had always contended for. So ended the first 
year of the civil war. 



CHAPTER LXIV. 

CAMPAIGNS OF '62. 

THE Federal forces now numbered about four hundred and fifty thou- 
sand men. Of these nearly two hundred thousand, under command 
of General McClellan, were encamped in the vicinity of Washington. 
Another army, commanded by General Buell, was stationed at Louisville, 



496 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Kentucky, and it was in this department that the first military move- 
ments of the year were made. On the 9th of January Colonel Humphrey 
Marshall, commanding a flvrce of Confederates on Big Sandy River, in 
Eastern Kentucky, was attacked and defeated by a body of Unionists, led 
by Colonel Garfield. Ten days later another and more important battle 
was fought at Mill Spring, in the same section of the State. The Con- 
federates were commanded by Generals Crittenden and Zollicoffer, and 
the Federals by General George H. Thomas. After a hot engagement, 
in which both sides lost heavily, the Confederates suffered a defeat which 
was rendered more severe by the loss of Zollicoffer, mIio fell in the battle. 

The next operations were on the Tennessee and the Cumberland. 
The former river was commanded at the southern border of Kentucky by 
Fort Henry, and the latter by the more important Fort Donelson, ten 
miles south of the Tennessee line. At the beginning of the year the cap- 
ture of both these places was planned by General Halleck. Early in 
February Commodore Foote was sent up the Tennessee \\itli a flotilla of 
gunboats, and at the same time General Grant was ordered to move for- 
ward and co-operate in an attack on Fort Henry. Before the land-forces 
were well into position the flotilla compelled the evacuation of the fort, 
the Confederates escaping to Donelson. Eighty-three prisoners and a 
large amount of stores were captured. 

The Federal gunboats now dropped down the Tennessee, took on 
supplies at Cairo, and then ascended the Cumberland. Grant j)ressed on 
from Fort Henry, and as soon as the flotilla arrived began the siege of 
Fort Donelson. The defences were strong, and well manned by more 
than ten thousand Confederates, under General Buokner. Grant's entire 
force numbered nearly thirty thousand. On the 14th of Februaiy the 
gunboats were driven back M'ith considerable loss. Commodore Foote 
being among the ^voundod. On the next day the garrison, lioping to 
break through Grant's lines, made a sally, but met a severe re^julse. On 
the 16th Buckner was obliged to surrender. His army of ten thousand 
men became jirisoners of war, and all the magazines, stores and guns of 
tlie fort fell into the hands of the Federals. It was the iirst decided vic- 
tory which had been won by the national arms. The innnediate result 
of the capture was the evacuation of Kentucky and the capital of Tennes- 
see by the Confederates. 

After his success at Fort Donelson General Grant ascended the Ten- 
nessee as far as Pittsburg Landing. In the beginning of April a camp 
was established at Shiloh Church, a short distance from the river; and 
here, on the morning of the 6th, the Union army was suddenly attacked 
by the Confederates, led by Generals Albert S. Johnston and Beauregard, 



CA3IPAIGNS OF '62. 



497 



The onset was at first successful. All day long the battle raged ■with tre- 
mendous slaughter on both sides. The Federals were forced back to the 
river, and but for the protection of the gunboats would have been driven 
to destruction. Night fell on the scene with the conflict undecided ; but 
in this desperate crisis General Buell arrived from Nashville with strong 
Teieforcements. On the following morning General Grrant assumed the 
-offensive. General Johnston had been killed in the battle, and Beaure- 
gard, on whom the command devolved, was obliged to retreat to Corinth. 
The losses in killed, wounded and missing in this dreadful conflict were 
more tiian ten thousand on each side. There had never before been such 
a harvest of death in the New World. 

Events of importance were also taking place on the Mississippi. 
When the Confederates evacuated Columbus, Kentucky, they proceeded 
to Island Number Ten, a few miles below, and built strong fortifications 
commanding the river. On the western shore was the town of New Mad- 
rid, which was held by a Confederate force from Missouri. Against 
this jilace General Pope advanced with a body of Western troops, while 
Commodore Foote descended the Mississippi with his flotilla to attack 
the forts on the island. Pope was entirely successful in his movement, 
and gained possession of New Madrid. The land-forces then co-operated 
with the gunboats, and for twenty-three days Island Number Teu was 
vigorously bombarded. On the 7th of April, when the Confederates 
could hold out no longer, they attempted to escape ; but Pope had cut off 
retreat, and tiie entire garrison, numbering about five thousand, was cap- 
tured. The Mississippi was thus opened as far down as Memphis, and 
that city was taken by the fleet of Commodore Davis on the 6th of the 
following June. 

In the beginning of the year General Curtis had pushed forward 
through Missouri, entered Arkansas and taken position at Pea Ridge, 
among the mountains in the north-western angle of the State. Here he 
was attacked on the 6th of March by an army of more than twenty thou- 
sand Confederates and Indians, under command of Generals McCulloch, 
Mcintosh and Pike. After a hard-fought battle, which lasted for two 
days, the Federals were victorious. McCulloch and Mcintosh were both 
killed and their men obliged to retreat toward Texas; but the Union 
losses were most severe, and the battle was barren of results. 

On the next day after the conflict at Pea Ridge an event occurred 

at Fortress Monroe which came near changing the character of naval 

warfare. Captain John Ericsson of New York had invented and built a 

peculiar war-vessel with a single round tower of iron exposed above the 

water-line. Meanwhile, the Confederates had raised the United States 
■ja 



rlJ 



x/^ 



fi^ 



JX 



498 HISTURY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

frigate Merrimac, one of the sunken ships at the Norfolk na\y yard, and 
had plated the sides with an impenetrable mail of iron. This done, the 
vessel was sent to attack the Union fleet at Fortress Monroe. Reaching 
that place on the 8th of March, the Merrimac, now called the Virginia, 
began the work of destruction, and before sunset two valuable vessels, the 
Cumberland and the Coiwfress, were sent to the bottom. During the night, 
however, Ericsson's strange ship, called the 3Ionitor, arri\-ed from New 
York, and on the following morning the two iron-clad monsters turned 
their terrible enginery upon each other. After fighting for five hours, 
the Virginia was obliged to give up the contest and to return badly dam- 
aged to Norfolk. Such was the excitement produced by this novel sea- 
fight that for a while the whole energies of the navy department were 
devoted to building monitors. 

Early in 1862 a strong land and naval force, commanded by Gen- 
eral Ambrose E. Burnside and Commodore Goldsborough, was sent 
against the Confederate garrison of Roanoke Island. On the 8th of Feb- 
ruaiy the scjuadron reached its destination ; the fortifications on tiie island 
were attacked and carried, and the garrisons, nearly three thousand strong, 
taken prisoners. Burnside next proceeded against Newbern, North Car- 
olina, and on the 14th of March captured the city after four hours of 
severe fighting. Proceeding southward, he reached the harbor of Beau- 
fort, carried Fort Macon, at the entrance, and on the 25th of April toolc 
possession of the town. 

On the 11th of the same month Fort Pulaski, commanding the 
mouth of the Savannah River, surrendered to General Gillmore. By 
this important capture the chief emporium of Georgia was effectually 
blockaded. But tiiese reverses of the Confederates were trifling in com- 
parison with that which tiiey sustained in the loss of the city of New 
Orleans. Early in April a powerful squadron, commanded by General 
Butler and Admiral Farragut, entered the Mississippi and i)roceeded as 
far as Forts Jackson and St. Philip, tiiirty miles above the gulf The 
guns of these forts, standing on opposite shores, completely commanded 
tiie river, and obstructions had been placed in the channel. The forty- 
five vessels comprising the Federal fleet were brought into position, 
and a furious bombardment of tiie forts was begun. From the 18th to 
the 24th of April the fight continued without cessation. At the end of 
that time the forts were but little injured, and Farragut undertook the 
hazardous enterprise of running past the batteries. In this he succeeded, 
breaking the chain across the river and overpowering the Confederate 
fleet above the obstructions. On the next day he reached New Orleans 
with a portion of his fleet, and took possession of the city. General But- 



CAMPAIGNS OF '62. 49& 

ler became commandant, and tlie fortifications were manned with fifteen 
thousand Federal sokliurs. Tiirce days afterward Forts Jackson and Si, 
Philip surrendered to Admiral Porter, who had remained below and 
prosecuted the siege. The control of the Lower Mississippi and the me- 
tropolis of the South was tims recovered by the Federal government. 

The Confederates were not going to give up Kentucky without a 
struggle. From East Tennessee they invaded the State in two strong 
divisions, the one led by General Kirby Smith and the other by General 
Bragg. On the 30th of August Smith's army reached Richmond, at- 
tacked a force of Federals stationed there, and routed them with heavy 
losses. Lexington was taken, and then Frankfort; and Cincinnati was 
saved from capture only by the extraordinary exertions of Geiaeral Wal- 
lace. ]\Icanwhile, the army of General Bragg had advanced from Chatta- 
nooga to Mumfordsville, where, on the 17th of September, he captured a 
Federal division of four thousand five hundred men. From this point 
the Confederate general pressed on toward Louisville, and would have 
taken the city but for a forced march of General Buell from Tennessee. 
The latter arrived with his army only one day ahead of Bragg, but that 
one day gave the Unionists the advantage, and the Confederates were 
turned back. From the North came reinforcements for Buell's army, 
swelling his numbers to a hundred thousand. In the beginning of Octo- 
ber he again took the field, the Confederates slowly retiring to Perryvillo. 
At this place, on the Stli of October, Bragg was overtaken, and a severe 
but indecisive battle was fought. The retreat was then continued to East 
Tennessee, the Confederates sweeping out of Kentucky a train of four 
thousand wagons laden with the spoils of the campaign. 

In September there were some stirring events in Mississippi. On 
the 19th of the month a hard battle was fought at luka between a Fed- 
eral army, commanded by Generals Rosecrans and Grant, and a Confed- 
erate force, under General Price. The latter was defeated, losing, in addi- 
tion to his killed and wounded, nearly a thousand prisoners. General 
Rosecrans now took post at Corinth with twenty thousand men, while 
General Grant, with the remainder of the Federal forces, proceeded to 
Jackson, Tennessee. Perceiving this division of the army, the Confede- 
rate generals Van Dorn and Price turned about to recapture Corinth. 
Advancing for that purpose, they came on the 3d of October upon tlie 
Federal defences. Another obstinately contested battle ensued, which 
ended, after two days' fighting and heavy losses on both sides, in the re- 
pulse of the Confederates. 

In the mean time, General Grant had removed his headquarters 
from Jackson to La Grange. His purpose was to co-operate with Gen- 



oOO 



HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 



eral Sherman, then iit Memphis, in an effort to capture Vicksburg. The 
movement promised to be successful, but on the 20th of December Gene- 
ral Van Dorn succeeded in cutting Grant's line of supplies at Holly 
Springs, and obliged him to retreat. On the same day General Sherman, 
with a powerful armament, dropped down the river from Memphis, 

Proceeding as far as the Yazoo, lit 
effected a landing, and on the 29th 
of the month made an unsuccessful 
attack on the Confederates at Chick- 
asaw Bayou. The assault was ex- 
ceedingly disastrous to the Federals, 
who lost in killed, wounded and pris- 
oners more than three thousand men. 
The enterprise was at once aban- 
doned, and the defeated army re- 
turned t(i the fleet of gunboats in 
the Mississippi. 

The closing conflict of tliis 
year's operations in tiie AVest was 
the sreat l>attle of A[urfrccsl)orou2:h. 
After his successful defence of Cor- 
inth General Rosecrans was trans- 
ferred to the command of the Army 
of the Cumberland. Late in the fall 
lie made his headrpiarters at Nash- 
ville, and there collected a powerful 
army. Meanwhile, General Bragg, 
on his retirement from Kentucky, 
had thrown his forces into Murfreesborough. Thus the two generals 
found themselves face to face, and but thirty miles apart. Late iu 
December Rosecrans moved forward to attack his antagonist, and on the 
evening of the 30th came npon the Confederates strongly posted on 
Stone's River, a short distance north-west of AInrfreesbo rough. During 
the night preparations wei'e made on both sides for tlie impending 
battle. The plan of attack adopted by the Federal commander contem- 
plated the massing of liis forces on the left in such numbers as to crush 
the Confederate right Aving under Breckinridge before assistance could 
i)e brought from the west side of the river. Bragg's plan of battle wa-^ 
the exact counterpart of that adopted by Rosecrans. Before daylight 
the Confederates were heavily massed under Hardee on the left; and 
in the early morning the battle began by a furious and unexpected 




BATTLE OF JlrP.FREESBOROUGH, DEC. 31ST, 1S62. 



CAMPAIGN OF '62. 



501 



charge ou MeCook who commanded the right wing of the Federals. 
McCook's outcry for help was at fir.st unheeded by Rosecrans, who did 
not realize the real nature of the Confederate onset. After a terrible 
struggle which lasted until noonday the Union right was shattered to 
fragments and driven from tlie field. The brunt of the battle now fell 
•iipon General Thomas, who commanded the 
Federal right center; and he, too, after des- 
perate fighting, was obliged to fall back to 
a new position. Here, however, he rallied 
his forces and held his ground until Gen- 
eral Rosecrans readjusted his whole line of 
battle. While this work was s-oinsr on. the 
Confederates were barely prevented from a 
complete and overwhelming triumph by tlie 
almost unparalleled heroism of the division 
of General William B. Hazen. Witli only 
thirteen hundred men he stayed the oncom- 
ing tide of victorious assailants until the 
Federal lines were completely restored. At 
nightfall more than seven thousand Union 
soldiers were missing from the ranks. 

But General Rosecrans, though de- 
feated, was by no means disposed to abandon battle of MURFREESBOKor.in. nx. 
the contest. During the night after the bat- 
tle, a council of war was held and complete preparations were made for 
renewing the struggle on the morrow. On New Year's morning Gen- 
eral Bragg found his antagonist strongly posted, with shortened lines, 
and manifest dis])osition for battle. The Confederate commander 
grew cautious; and the day was spent in indecisive skirmishing and 
artillery firing at long range. Early on the morning of the 2d, the 
conflict V)roke out afresh on the east side of Stone's River, and for 
some hours there was terrific cannonading in that quarter. At three 
o'clock in tlie afternoon the Confederates were massed against the 
Union left, and the Nationals were driven across the river by the 
fliock. But at this juncture the Federal artillery, advantageously 
j)Osted on the hills west of the stream, opened a murderous fire 
on the assailing columns. At the same time, the discomfited 
Federals, rallying to the charge, turned upon their pursuers and 
in one tremendous onset drove them from the field with the slaugh- 
ter of thousands. General Bragg had lost the prize. Dui-ing the 
night he withdrew his broken and exhausted columns through 




602 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 

Murfreesborougli and retreated in tlie direetion of Tiillahnma. The 
Union loss in the two battles was a tliousand five hundred and thirty- 
three killed, seven thousand two hundred and forty-five wounded, and 
nearly three thousand prisoners; that of the Confederates amounted 
in killed, wounded, and jirisoners to between ten and eleven thou- 
sand men. 

In Virf!;inia the campaigns of 1862 were even more grand am 
destructive than those in the West. The first stirring scenes of the 
year were enacted in the Shenandoah Valley. Desiring to occupy 
this important district, the Federal government sent forward a strong 
division under General Banks, who pressed his way southward, and in 
the last days of March occupied the town of Harrisonburg. In order 
to counteract this movement, the gallant Stonewall Jackson was sent 
with a force of twenty thousand men to pass the Blue Ridge and cut 
off Banks's retreat. At Front Royal, on the Shenandoah, just before 
the gap in the Mountains, the Confederates fell upon a body of 
Federals, routed them, captured their guns and all the military stores 
in the town. Banks succeeded, however, in ])assiiig with his main 
division to Strasburg. Tliere he learned of the disaster at Front 
Royal, and immediately began his retreat down tlie valley. Jackson 
pursued him hotly, and it was only by tlie utmost exertions that the 
Federals gained the northern l)ank of the Potomac. 

The Confederate leader, tliough completely victorious, now foumi 
himself in great peril. For General Fremont, at the head of a strong 
force of fresh troops, had been sent into the valley to intercept the re- 
treat of the Confederates. It was now Jackson's time to save his 
army. With the utmost celerity he sped up the valley, and succeeded 
in reaching Cross Keys before Fremont could attack him. Even 
then the battle was so little decisive that Jackson pressed on to Port 
Republic, attacked the division of General Shields, defeated it, and 
then retired from the scene of his brilliant campaign to join in the 
defense of Richmond. 

On the 10th of March the grand army of the Potomac, num- 
bering nearly two hundred thousand men, under command of General 
McClellan, set out from the camps about W^ashington to ca|)ture the 
Confederate capital. The advance proceeded as far as ]\ianassas Junc- 
tion, the Confederates falling back and forming a new line of defences 
on the Rappahannock. At this stage of the campaign ^IcClellan, 
changing his plan, embarked a juindred and twenty thousand of his 
men for Fortress Monroe, intending from that point to march up the 
peninsula between the James and tlie York. By the 4th of April the 



CAMPAIGNS OF '62. 



503 



transfer of troops was completed, and the Union army left Fortress 
Monroe for Yorktown. This place was garrisoned by ten thousand 
Confederates under General Magruder; and yet with so small a force 
McClellan's advance was delayed for a whole month. When at last, 
on the 4th of May, Yorktown was taken by siege, the Federal army 
pressed forward to Williamsburg, 
where the Confederates made a ^ 
stand, but were defeated with se- 
vere losses. Four days afterward, 
in an engagement at West Point, 
at the confluence of the Matta- 
pony and Pamunkey, the Confed- 
erates were again overpowered and 
driven back. The way to Rich- 
mond was now open as far as the 
Chickahominy, ten miles north 
of the city. The Union army 
reached that stream without fur- 
ther resistance, and crossed at 
Bottom's Bridge. 

Meanwhile, General Wool, 
the commandant of Fortress Mon- 
roe, had not been idle. On the 
10th of May he led an expedition 
against Norfolk and captured the 
town ; for the Confederate garri- 
son had been withdrawn to aid in the defence of Richmond. On the 
next day the celebrated iron-clad Virf/inia Avas blown up to save her 
from capture by the Federals. The James River was thus opened for 
the ingress of national transports laden with supplies for the Army 
of the Potomac. That army, now advanced toward Richmond, and 
when but seven miles from the city was attacked on the 31st of May liy 
the Confederates at a place called Fair Oaks or Seven Pines. Here 
for a part of two days the battle raged with great fury. At last the 
Confederates were driven back; but McClellan's victory was by no 
means decisive. The Confederate loss was largest, amounting to 
nearly eight thousand in killed and wounded; that of the Feder- 
als was more than five thousand. Among the severely wounded was 
General Joseph E. Johnston, the commander-in-chief of the Con- 
federates. Two days after the battle his place was filled by the 
appointment of General Robert E. Lee, a man of military genius, 




SCENE OF CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA, MARYLAND 
AND PENNSYLVANIA, 1862. 



504 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



who, until its final downfall, remained the chief .stay of the Confed- 
eracy. 

In the lull that followed the battle of Fair Oaks, MeClellan 
formed the design of changing his base of supplies from the White 
House, on the Paniunkey, to some suitable point on the James. The 

movement was one 
of the utmost haz- 
ard, and before it 
was fairly begun 
General Lee, on 
the 25th of June, 
swooped down on 
the right wing of 
the Union army at 
Oak Grove, and a 
hard -fought battle 
ensued without de- 
cisive results. On 
the next day an- 
other dreadful en- 
gagement occurred 
at Mechanicsville, 
and this time the 
Federals won t h e 
field. But on the 
following morning 
Lee renewed the 
struggle at Gaines's Mill, and came out victorious. On the 28th there 
was but little fighting. On the 29th MeClellan's retreating army was 
twice attacked — in the morning at Savage's Station and in the afternoon 
in the White Oak Swamp — but the divisions defending the rearguard 
kept the Confederates at bay. On the 30th was fought the desperate 
but indecisive battle of Glendale or Frazier's Farm. On that night 
the Federal army reached Malvern Hill, on the north bank of the 
James, twelve miles below Richmond. Although this position was 
protected by the Federal gunboats in the river, General Lee deter- 
mined to carry the place by storm. Accordingly, on the morning of 
the 1st of July the whole Confederate army rushed forward to the as- 
sault. All day long the furious struggle for the possession of the high 
grounds continued. Not until nine o'clock at night did Lee's shat- 
tered columns fall back exhausted. For scnn ildt/x the terrific roar 




(iENEliAL ROBERT E. LEE. 



CAMPAIGNS OF '62. 



505 




VICINITY OF RICHMOND, 1SC2. 



of battle had been heard almost without cessation. No such dreadful 
scenes had ever before been enacted on the American continent. 

Although victorious on Malvern Hill, General McClellan, instead 
of advancing at once on Richmond, chose a less hazardous movement, 
and on the 2d of July retired with his army to Harrison's Landing, 

a few miles down the river. The 

great campaign was really at an 
end. The Federal army had lost 
more than fifteen thousand men, 
and the capture of Richmond, the 
great object for which the expedi- 
tion had been undertaken, seemed 
further off than ever. The losses 
of the Confederates had been heav- 
ier than those of the Union army, 
but all the moral effect of a great 
victory rcmainetl with the exultant 
South. 

General Lee, perceiving that 
Richmond was no longer endan- 
gered, immediately formed the de- 
sign of invading Maryland and capturing the Federal capital. The 
LTnion troops between Richmond and Washington, numbering in the 
aggregate about fifty thousand, were under command of General John 
Pope. They were scattered in detachments from Fredericksburg to 
Winchester and Harper's Ferry. Lee moved northward about the 
middle of August, and on the 20th of the month Pope, concentrating 
his forces as rapidly as possible, put the Rapjiahannock between his 
army and the advancing Confederates. Meanwhile General Banks, 
while attempting to form a junction with Pope, was attacked by Stone- 
wall Jackson at Cedar Mountain, where nothing but desperate fighting 
saved tiie Federals from complete rout. 

No sooner had Pope gotten his forces well in hand than Jackson 
shot by with his division on a flank movement, reached Manassas 
Junction, and made large captures of men and stores. Pope with great 
audacity threw his army between the two divisions of the Confederates, 
hoping to crush Jackson before Lee could come to the rescue. On 
August 28th and 29th there was terrible but undecisive fighting at 
Manassas Junction, the old Bull Run battle-ground, and Centreville. 
At one time it seemed that Lee's army would be completely defeated; 
but Pope's reinforcements were purposely delayed by General Porter, 



506 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 

and oil the 31st of the month the Confederates bore down on the 
Union army at C'hantilly, fonght all day, and won a victory. Gen- 
erals Stevens and Kearney were among the thonsands of brave men 
who fell in this battle. On that night Pope withdrew his shattered 
columns as rapidly as possible, and found safety within the defences 
of AVashington. His wish to be relieved of his command was imme- 
diately complied with; his forces, known as the Army of Virginia, 
were consolidated with the Army of the Potomac, which had now 
been recalled from the peninsula below Richmond ; and General Mc- 
Clellan was placed in supreme command of all the divisions about 
Washington. 

General Lee proseciited his invasion of Maryland. Passing up 
the right bank of the Potomac, he crossed to Point of Rocks, and on 
the 6tli of September captured Frederick. On the 10th Hagerstown 
was taken, and on the IStli a division of the Confederate army, led 
bv Stonewall Jackson came upon Harper's Ferry and frightened Colo- 
nel Miles into surrender by which the garrison, nearly twelve thou- 
sand strong, became prisoners of war. On the previous day there was 
a hard-fought engagement at South Mountain, in which tlie Federals, 
led by Hatch and Doubleday, were victorious. McClellan's whole 
army was now in the immediate rear of Lee, who, on the night of the 
14th, fell back to Antietam Creek, and took a strong position in the 
vicinity of Sharpsburg. On the morning of the loth there was sinu' 
sh'i.rp but desultory fighting between the Union and Confederate cav- 
alry. During the afternoon the Federal advance, coming in on the 
Sharpsburg road from Keedysville, received the oi>ening salutes of the 
Confederate guns on the Antietam. But nightfall came without a se- 
rious conflict. On the following morning there was great activity of 
preparation in both armies. Later in the day the corps of General 
Hooker, wiio commanded on the Federal right, was thrown across the 
stream which separated the combatants and brought into a favorable 
position for action. In this quarter of the field the Confederate left 
under Getieral Hood was assaulted and driven back a half mile in the 
direction of Shari)sburg. The rest of the day was spent in an irregu- 
lar cannonade. During the night General Mansfield's corps crossed 
the Antietam on tlie north bridge and joined Hooker. 

On the morning of the 17th both commanders had their armies 
well into position, the Federals being strongest in numbers and the 
Confederates having the advantage of an unfordable stream in their 
front. It was of the first importance tliat General McClellan siiould 
gain and iiold tiie four stone bridges by which only his forces could 



CAMPAIGNS OF '62. 



507 




MatisrieM 
Eve^oriBUi. 



X-^"" 






be thi'owii to the other side. General Burnside, who was ordered to 
take the lower bridge, cross over, and attack the division of A. P. 
Hill, encountered nnexpected delays and was greatly retarded in his 
movements. On the right, Hooker renewed the battle at sunrise, and 
until late in the afternoon the conflict raged with almost unabated 
fury. Here fell the 
veteran General Mans- 
field and thousands of 
his comrades. Mean- 
while, Burnside had 
forced the lower cross- 
i n g and carried the 
battle far up in the di- 
rection of Sharpsburg. 
But the Confederates 
being reinforced from 
other parts of the iield 
made a rally, and the 
Federals were driven 
back nearly to tlie An- 
tietam. It ^\•as only by 
terrible fighting that 
General Burnside suc- 
ceeded in holding his 
position on the west 
bank of the s t r e a in . 
But on the ajjproach 
of darkness the great- 
er part of the Union 
army had gained a safe 
lodgment between the 
creek and Sharpsburg. 
Nevertheless, the Confederate forces occupied nearly the same ground 
as in the morning; and it seemed that the final .struggle was reserved 
for tlie morrow. On that day, however, General McGlellan acted on 
the defensive. Two strong divisions of reinforcements, under Generals 
Humphreys and Coucli, arrived, and it was resolved to renew the at- 
tack on the following morning. But in the mean time. General Lee 
had taken advantage of the delay, withdrawn his shattered legions from 
their position, and recrossed the Potomac into Virginia. The great 
conflict which had cost each army more than ten thousand men had 




THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM, SEPTEMBER 17 



608 



HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. • 



ended in a drawn Ijattle in which there is little to be praised except 
the heroism of the soldiery. To the Confederates, however, the result 
■was almost as disastrous as defeat. The promised uprising of the 
people of Maryland in behalf of the Confederate cause did not occur 
and General Lee was obliged to give up a fruitless and hopeless in- 
vasion which, in the short space of a month, had cost him near);, 

thirty thousand men. On the 
other side, the expectations 
which had been inspired by 
t'le movements and despatch- 
es of the Luiur. coinmander 
previous to the battle had beeni 
s( irely disappointed. 

On the SGth of October,. 
General McClellan, following 
the reti'eating Confederates, 
again entered Virginia, and 
reached Rectortown. It was 
the ])urpose of the Federal' 
government that the Army, 
of the Potomac should, be- 
fore the ajiproach of M'inter, 
be thrown forward in a sec- 
ond attempt against Rich- 
mond. The Union ctymmand- 
er still preferred to advance- 
by the route M-hich he had 
taken the previous spring, making his base of supplies at West Point 
on the Pamunkey. But this plan was open to tlie objection that Wash- 
ington city would thereby be again uncovered and exposed to a coun- 
ter movement on the part of the Confederates. Yielding to the pro- 
test of the President and his cabinet, McClellan altered his plans and 
chose Alexandria on the Potomac as his base of operations. From, 
this point it was proposed to advance on the Confederate capital by 
way of the Orange Railroad through Culpepper to Gordonsvillo, and 
thence by the Virginia Central to its junction with the line reaching 
from Fredericksburg to Richmond. The month of October Avas 
wasted with delays, and November was well begun before the Federal 
general with his army of a hundred and twenty thousand men, an- 
nounced himself ready for the forward movement. On the 7th oi 




THE rr.opo^En routes from washingtox to Rich- 
mond, 18(52. 



CAMPAIGKS OF '62. 509 

tlie month, just as the Union commander was about to begiu the cam- 
paign, he was superseded and his command transferred to General 
Burnside. Right or wrong, tlie President at last reached the decision 
that General McClellan was a man over-cautious and slow — too pru- 
dent and too much absorbed in preliminaries to lead the armies of 
the Republic to victory. 

General Burnside immediately changed the plan of the proposed 
campaign. It was decided to form a new base of supplies at the 
mouth of Acquia Creek, fifty-five miles below Washington and from 
that point to force a way by battle southward through Fredericks- 
burg. But again movements were much delayed, and that, coo, when 
everything depended on celerity. The pontoons, which were neces- 
•sary for tlie crossing of the Rappahannock, were not forthcoming, 
and a fortnight was lost in preparations. General Lee found abun- 
dant time to gather his legions and occupy the heights in the vicinity 
of Fredericksburg. It was not a part of his plan to dispute the pas- 
sage of the river but to allow the Federals to cross over and then 
beat them back from his entrenchments. On the 11th of December 
the Union army was brought into position on the east bank of the 
Rappahannock. The divisions lay from the village of Falmouth to 
a point opposite the mouth of the Massapouax, about three miles be- 
low. In front of the corps of General Franklin, who commanded 
the Federal left wing, the pontoons were successfully laid and the 
cro.ssing of the river was effected without serious opposition. Bu* 
opposite Fredericksburg, where tlie divisions of Generals Sumner and 
Hooker, who held the Union center and right, were to cross, the work 
of laying the bridges was hindered by the Confederate sharpshooters 
lying concealed in the town. General Burnside ordered the Federal 
guns to be turned in that direction, and in a short time Fredericks- 
burg was battered and burned into ruins. Some Union regiments 
were next ferried over in boats, and the Confederate picket lines were 
driven l)ack to the heights. The bridges were completed, and by 
niglitfall of the r2th the army had been transferred to the western 
side of the river. 

On the morning of the 13th the battle began on the left where 
Franklin's division encountered the corps of Stonewall Jackson. A 
gallant charge was made by General Meade and a gap was made in 
the Confederate lines; but no reinforcements were sent forward; the 
Confederates rallied, and the Federals were driven back with a loss 
of three thousand seven hundred men. Jackson's loss was almost as 



510 HlSiORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

great, and in this part of the field neither side niiglit claim a deeisive 
victory. Not so in tlie center and on the right. Here a portion of 
General Sumner's men were ordered forward against the Confederates 
securely and impregnably jwsted on Marye's Hill. They were mowed 
down by thousands and hurled back in disdain, Avhile the defenders 
of the heights hardly lost a man. Time and again the assault wa' 
i-ecklessly renewed. A part of Hooker's gallant troops, led Ijy Gen 
eral Humjihreys, came forward ; charged with unloaded guns ; and iic 
fifteen minutes one-half of the four thousand brave fellows went dowc 
in death. Xight came and ended the useless carnage. General Burn- 
side would liave renewed the battle; but his division commander.- 
finally dissuaded him and on the night of the 15th the Federal arm\ 
was silently withdrawn across the Rappahannock. The Union lossci" 
in this terrible conflict amounted to a thousand five hundred killed, 
nine thousand one hundred wounded, and sixteen hundred and fifty 
prisoners and missing. The Confederates lost in killed five hundrec! 
and ninety-five, four thousand and sixty-one wounded, and six hun- 
dred and fifty-three missing and prisoners. Of all the important 
movements of the war only that of Fredericksburg was undertaken 
with no probabilitv of success. Under the plan of the battle — if 
plan it might be called, nothing could l)e reasonal)ly expected but 
repulse, rout, and ruin. Thus in gloom and disaster to tiie Federal 
cause ended the great campaign of 1862. 



CHAPTER LXV. 

THE WORK OF 'G3. 



THE war had now grown to enormous proportions. The Confederatt 
States were draining every resource of men and means in order to 
support their armies. The superior energies of the North, though by no 
means exhausted, were greatly taxed. In the previous year, on the day 
after the battle of Malvern Hill, President Lincoln had issued a call foi 
three hundred thousand additional troops. During the e.Kciting days of 
Pope's retreat from the Rappahannock he sent forth another call for three 



THE WORK OF '63. 511 

liundred thousand, and to that was added a requisition for a draft of three 
hundred thousand more. Most of tliese enormous demands were promptly 
met, and it became evident that in respect to resources tlie Federal gov- 
ernment was vastly superior to the Confederacy. 

On the 1st day of January, 1863, the President issued one of the 
most important documents of modern times: The Emancipation 
Proclamation.* The war had been begun with no well-defined inten- 
tion on the part of the government to free the slaves of the South. But 
the President and the Republican party looked M'ith disfavor on the in- 
stitution of slavery; during the progress of the war the sentiment of 
abolition had grown with great rapidity in the Korth ; and when at last 
it became a military necessity to strike a blow at the labor-system of the 
Southern States, the step was taken with but little hesitancy or oppo- 
sition. Thus, after an existence of two hundred and forty-four years, the 
institution of African slavery in the United States was swept away. 

The military movements of the new year began on the ]\Iississippi 
After his defeat at Chickasaw Bayou, General Sherman laid a jilan for 
the capture of Arkansas Post, on the Arkansas River. In the first days 
of January an expedition set out for that purpose, the land-forces being 
commanded by General McClernand, and the flotilla by Admiral Porter. 
Entering the Arkansas, the Union forces reached their destination on the 
10th of the month, fought a hard battle with the Confederates, gained a 
victory, and on the next day received the surrender of the post with 
nearly five thousand prisoners. After this success the expedition returned 
to the vicinity of Vicksburg, in order to co-operate M'ith General Grant 
in a second effort to capture that stronghold of the Confederacy. 

Again the Union forces were collected at Memphis, and embarked 
on the Mississippi. A landing was effected at the Yazoo; but the cap- 
ture of the city from that direction was decided to be impracticable. The 
first three months of the year were spent by General Grant in beating 
about the bayous, swamps and hills around Vicksburg, in the hope of 
getting a position in the rear of the town. A canal was cut across a 
bend in the river with a view to turning the channel of the Mississippi 
and opening a passage for the gunboats. But a flood in the river washed 
the works away, and the enterprise ended in failure. Then another 
canal was begun, only to lie abandoned. Finally, in the first days of 
April, it was determined at all hazards to run the fleet past the Vicksburg 
batteries. Accordingly, on the night of the 16th, the boats were made 
ready and silently dropped down the river. All of a sudden the guns 
burst forth with terrible discharges of shot and shell, pelting the passing 

* See Appendix H. 



51:^ 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 




VKKSBURG AND VICINITY, 1863. 

now swept around to the rear of 



steamers; but thoy went by with comparatively little damage, and fliund 
a safe jiosition below the city. 

Elated with the successful pas- 
sage of his fleet, General Grant 
now marched his land-forces down 
the right bank of the Mississippi 
and formed a junction with the 
squadron. On the 30th of April 
he crossed the river at Bruinsburg, 
and on the following day fought 
and defeated the Confederates at 
Port Gibson. Tiie evacuation of 
Grand Gulf, at the mouth of the 
Big Black River, followed imme- 
diately afterward. The Union army 
Vicksburg. On the morning of 
the 12th a strong Confederate force was encountered at Raymond, and 
after a severe engagement was repulsed. Pressing on toward Jackson, 
the capital of Mississippi, General Grant's right wing, under Sherman and 
McPherson, met the advance of General J(_)hnston's division coming to 
reinforce the garrison of Vicksburg. Here, on the 14th of the month, 
a decisive battle was fought ; the Confederates were beaten, and the city 
of Jackson captured. The communications of Vicksburg were now cut 
off, and General Pemberton was obliged to rej)el the Federals or suffer a 
siege. Sallying forth with the greater part of his forces, lie met the Union 
army on the 16tli at Champion Hills, on Baker's Creek. In the battle 
that followed, as well as in a conflict at the Black River Bridge on the 
17th, Grant was again victorious, and Pemberton retired ^^■ith his dis- 
heartened troops within the defences of Vicksburg. 

The investment of the city was ra]iidly comj)leted. Believing that 
the Confederate works coidd be carried by storm. General Grant, on the 
19th of May, ordered an assault, which resulted in a repulse with terrible 
losses. Three days afterward the attemjit was renewed, but the assailants 
were again hurled back with a still greater destruction of life. The 
Union loss in these two imsuccessful assaults aniounied to nearly three 
thousand men. Finding that A^icksburg could not be taken liy storm, 
General Grant began a regular siege, and pressed it with ever-increasing 
severity. Admiral Porter got his gunboats into position and bombarded 
the unfortunate town incessantly. Reinforcements swelled the Union 
ranks. On the other hand, the garrison of the city was in a starving con- 
dition. Still, Pemberton held out for more than a month ; and it was 



THE nVRk' OF '03. 513 

not until tlie 4th of July that he was driven to surrender. By the act 
of capitulation the defenders of Vicksburg, numbering nearly thirty 
thousand, became prisoners' of war. Thousands of small-arms, hundreds 
of cannon, vast quantities of ammunition and warlike stores were the 
fruitS of tiiis great Union victory, by which the national government 
gained niore and the Confederacy lost more than in any previous struggle 
of the Vvar. 

Meanwhile, General Banks, who had superseded General Butler in 
comruanfj of the department of the gulf, had been conductiiig a vigor- 
ous campaign on the Lower Mississippi. Early in January, from his 
headquartere at Baton Rouge, he advanced into Louisiana, reached Brash- 
ear City, and shortly afterward gained a victory over a Confederate force 
at a place called Bayou Teche. Returning to the Mississippi, he moved 
northward to Port Hudson, invested the place and began a siege. The 
beleaguered garrison, under General Gardner, made a brave defence ; and 
it was not until the 8th of July, when the news of the fall of Vicksburg 
was borne to Port Hudson, that the commandant, with his force of more 
than six thousand men, was obliged to capitulate. By tliLs important 
surrender the control of the Mississippi throughout its whole length was 
recovered by the National government. 

During the progress of the war cavalry raids became more and more 
frequent. Of this nature was Stonewall Jackson's campaign down the 
Shenandoah valley in the summer of 1862. Later in the same year, just 
after the battle of Antietam, the Confederate General Stuart, with a troop 
of eighteen hundred cavalrymen, made a dash into Pennsylvania, reached 
Chambersburg, captured the town, made a complete circuit of the Army 
of the Potomac, and returned in safety to Virginia. Just before the in- 
vestment of Vicksburg, Colonel Benjamin Grierson, of the Sixth Illinois 
Cavalry, struck out with his command from La Grange, Tennessee, en- 
tered Mississippi, traversed the State to the east of Jackson, cut the rail- 
roads, destroyed projierty, and after a rapid course of more than eight 
hundred miles gained the river at Baton Rouge. By these raids the 
border country of both sections was kept in perpetual agitation and alarm. 

For a while after the battle of Murfreesborough Rosecraus re- 
mained inactive. Late in the spring Colonel Streight's command went 
on a raid into Georgia, met the division of the Confederate general 
Forrest, was surrounded and captured. In the latter part of June, Rose- 
crans by a series of flank movements succeeded in crowding General Bragg 
out of Tennessee into Georgia. The union general followed his antago- 
nist and took post at Chattanooga, on the left bank of the Tennessee, 
During the summer months General Bragg was heavily reinforced by 

33 



514 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES'. 



Johnston from Mississippi, and Longstreet from Virginia. On tlie 19th 
of September he turned upon the Federal army at Chickamauga Creek, 
in the nortli-west angle of Georgia. During this day a hard battle 
was fought, but night fell on the scene with the victory undecided. 
During the night the Confederates were reinforced by the arrival of 
General Lonffstreet, who was stationed with his division on tlie left 

wing of Bragg's army. The 



right was given to General 
Polk, while the center was 
lield l)y Ewell and John.ston. 
The Federal left wing was 
(•(immanded by General 
Thomas, the center by Crit- 
tenden, and the right by Mc- 
Cook. The plan of tlie Con- 
federate commander was to 
crush tlie Union line, force 
his way through a gap in 
Missionary Ridge, capture 
Rossville and Chattanooga, 
and annihilate Rosecrans's 
army. The battle began at 
half jiast eight o'clock on 
the morning of the 20th, 
the Confederates moving on 
i n ji o w e r f n 1 masses, and 
the Federals holding their 
ground with unflinching courage. After the conflict had continued 
for some hours, the national battle-line was opened by General Wood, 
acting under mistaken orders. The Confederate general, seeing hi.s 
advantage, thrust forward a heavy column into the gap, cut the Union 
army in two, and drove the .shattered right wing in utter rout from 
the field. General Thomas, with a desperate firmness hardly equaled 
in the annals of war, held the left until nightfall, and then, under 
cover of darkness, withdrew into Chattanooga, where the defeated 
army of Rosecrans had already fi)und shelter. The Union losses in 
this dreadful battle amounted in killed, wounded and missing to 
nearly nineteen thousand, and the Confederate loss was even more 
appalling. 

General Bragg at once j)ressed forward to besiege Chattanooga. 
The Federal lines of communication were cut off", and for a while the 
army of Rosecrans was in danger of being annihilated. But General 




BATTLE OF CHK'K AMAUGA, SEPT. 10. 20, 1.S6.S. 



THE WOBK OF (53. 



515 



Hooker arrived witli two corps from the Army of the Potomac, opened 
the Tennessee River, and brought relief to the besieged. At the same 
time General Grant, being promoted to the chief command of the 
Western armies, assumed the direction of affairs at Chattanooga. Gen- 
eral Sherman also arrived with his division, so strengthening the Army 
■:>f the Cumber- 
land that offen- 
sive ojjerations 
were at once 
renewed. The 
left wing of 
the Confederate 
army now rest- 
ed on L o o k - 
out Mountain, 
and the right 
on Missionary 



Ridge. A po- 
sition seemingly 
more impregna- 
ble could hard- 
ly be conceived 
of. General 



Bragg was not 
only confident 
of his ability to 
hold his lines 
against any ad- 
vance of the Federals but even contemplated the storming of Chatta- 
nooga. On the 20th of November he gave notice to General Grant to 
remove all non-combatants as the town was about to be bombarded; 
but no attention was paid to the despatch. On the 23d General Hooker 
threw his corps across the river below Chattanooga and gained a foot- 
ing at the mouth of Lookout Creek facing the mountain. From this 
position the assault was made on the following morning. Hooker was 
supported by the divisions of Generals Geary and Osterhaus, and the 
remainder of the Union army was kept in a state of activity in order 
to prevent the reinforcement of Lookout from Missionary Ridge. A 
dense fog hung like a hood over the mountain, effectually concealing 
the movements of the Federals. The charge began between eight and 
nine o'clock, and in the space of two hours the ranges of Confederate 
rifle-pits among the foot-hills had been successfully carried. It had 




LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN AND MISSIONARY RIDGE, NOV. 23-25, 1863. 



516 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

been General Hooker's purpose to pause when tliis work slioukl be 
accomplished, but the enthusiasm of his army rose to sueli a jnteli as 
to suggest the still greater achievement of carrying the whole Confed- 
erate position. Taking advantage of the fog and the spirit of his 
soldiers Hooker again gave the command to charge ; and up the almost 
inaccessible slopes of the mountain the troops sprang forward with re- 
sistless enorgv. It was such a scene of dauntless heroism as has rarclj 
been portrayed in the records of battle. The charging columns, strug- 
gling against the obstacles of nature and facing the murderous fire of 
the Confederate guns, could not be checked. The Union flag was 
carried to the top; and before two o'clock in the afternoon Lookout 
Mountain, with its cloud-capped summit overlooking the town and 
river, was swarming with Federal soldiers. The routed Confederates 
retreated down the eastern slope and across the intervening hills and 
valleys in the direction of Missionary Ridge. 

The second great conflict was reserved for the morrow. During 
the night of the 24th General Bragg concentrated his forces and made 
preparations to defend his position to the last. On the following 
morning Hooker's victorious troops poured down from Lookout, 
crossed the Chattanooga, and renewed the battle at the southwestern 
extremity of Missionary Ridge. General Sherman had already built 
pontoon bridges over the Tennessee and Chickamauga, thrown his 
corps across those streams, and gained a lodgment on the northeastern 
declivity of the Ridge. General Thomas, commanding the LTnion 
center, lay with his impatient soldiers, on the southern and eastern 
slopes of Orchard Knob, awaiting the result of Sherman's and Hooker's 
onsets. At two o'clock in the afternoon orders were given by Gen- 
eral Grant for an assault along the whole line. And the command 
was instantly obeyed. The thrilling scene of Lookout Mountain was 
again enacted. The Federal soldiers charged to the summit of Mis- 
sionary Ridge and the Confederates were driven into a disastrous rout. 
During the night General Bragg Mithdrew his shattered columns and 
retreated in the direction of Ringgold, Georgia. The Federal losses 
in the two great battles amounted to seven hundred and fifly-seven 
killed, four thousand five hundred and twenty-nine wounded, and three 
hundred and thirty missing; the loss of the Confederates in killed, 
wounded and prisoners reached considerably lieyond ten thousand. 
The results of the conflict were so decisive as to put an end to the 
war in Tennessee until it Mas renewed by Hood at Franklin anu 
Nashville in the winter of 1864. 

In the mean time, General Burnside was making an effort to hold 
East Tennessee. On the 1st of September he arrived with his command 



THE WORK OF "63. 617 

at Knox ville, where he was received by tlie pcojjle with lively satisfac- 
tion. After the battle of Chickamauga, General Longstreet was sent into 
East Tennessee to counteract the movements of the Unionists. On his 
march to Knoxville he overtook and captured several small detachments 
of Federal troops, then invested the town and began a siege. On the 
29th of November the Confederates made an attempt to carry Knoxville 
oy storm, but were repulsed with licavy losses. After the retreat of Bragg 
from Chattanooga, General Sherman marciied to the relief of Burnside; 
but before he could reach Knoxville, Longstreet raised the siege and re- 
treated into Virginia. 

In the early part of 1863 tiie Confederates, led by Generals Mar- 
raaduke and Price, resumed activity in Arkansas and Soutiiern Missouri. 
On the 8th of January they made an attack on Springfield, but were re- 
pulsed with considerable losses. Three days afterward, at the town of 
Hartsville, a battle was fouglit with a similar result. On the 26th of 
April, General Marmaduke attacked the post at Cape Girardeau, on tlie 
Mississippi, but the garrison succeeded in driving the Confederates a^\•av. 
On the day of the surrender of Vicksburg the Confederate general 
Holmes, with a force of nearly eight thousand men, made an attack 
on Helena, Arkansas, but was repulsed with a loss of one-fifth of his 
men. On the 13th of August the town of La'WTence, Kansas, was 
sacked and burned, and a hundred and forty persons killed by a band 
of desperate fellows led by a chieftain called Quantrell. On the 10th 
of September the Federal general Steele reached Little Eock, the 
capital of Arkansas, captured the city and restored the national authority 
in the State. 

To the summer of this year belongs the story of General John 
Morgan's great raid tln-ough Kentucky into Indiana and Ohio. His 
starting-point was Sparta, Tennessee; the number of his forces three 
thousand. Pushing northward through Kentucky, he gathered strength, 
reached the Ohio at Brandenburg, crossed into Indiana, and began his 
march to the north and east. He was resisted at Corydon and other 
points by bodies of home-guards, and hotly pursued by a force under 
General Hobson. Morgan crossed into Ohio at Harrison, made a circuit 
to the north of Cincinnati, and attempted to recross the river. But the 
Ohio was now guarded by gunboats, and the raiders were driven back. 
"With numbers constantly diminishing the Confederate leader pressed on, 
fighting and flying, until he came near the town of New Lislion, where 
he was surrounded and captured by the brigade of General Shackelford 
For nearly four mouths Morgan was held as a prisoner; then mak- 
ing his escape, he fled to Kentucky, and finally reached Richmond. 

The year 1863 was marked by some movements of importance on 



518 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the sea-coast. On tlie 1st of Jumiarv General Marmaduke, by a brilliant 
exploit, captured Galveston, Texas. By this means tlie Confederates se- 
cured a port of entry, of which they \vere greatly in need in the South- 
west. On the 7tli of April Admiral Du])ont, with a powerful fleet of iron- 
clads, made an attempt to capture Charleston, but the squadron was driven 
back much damaged. In the last days of June the siege of the city wa* 
begun anew by a strong land-force, under command of General Q. A 
Gillmore, assisted by the fleet under Admiral Dahlgren. The Federal 
army first etiected a lodgment on Folly Island, and soon afterward on 
the south end of Morris Island, where batteries were planted bearing upon 
Fort Sumter in the channel and Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg at the 
northern extremity of the island. After the bombardment had continued 
lor some time, General (xillniore, on the 18th of July, made an attempt 
to carry Fort Wagner by assault, but was repulsed with a loss of more 
than fifteen hundred men. The siege then progressed until the night of 
the 6th of September, when the Confederates evacuated the fort and Bat- 
tery Gregg, and retired to Charleston. Gillmore thus obtained a position 
within four miles of the city, and brouglit his guns to bear on the wharves 
and buildings of the lower town. Meanwhile, the walls of Fort Sumter 
on the side next to Morris Island had been pounded into powder by the 
land- batteries and guns of the monitors. The harbor and city, however, 
still remained under control of the Confederates, the only gain of the 
Federals being the establishment of a blockade so complete as to seal up 
the port of Charleston. 

During the spring and summer of 1863 the Army of the Potomac 
was engaged in several desperate conflicts. After his fatal repulse at 
Fredericksburg General Burnside was superseded by General Joseph 
Hooker, who, in the latter part of April, moved forward with his army in 
full force, crossed the Rappahannock and the Rapidan, and reached 
Chancellorsville. Here, on the evening of the 2d of May, he was at- 
tacked by the veteran Army of Northern Virginia, led by Lee and Jack- 
son. The latter general, with extraordinary daring, put himself at the 
head of a division of twenty-five thousand men, filed off from the battle- 
field, outflanked the Union army, burst like a thunder-cloud upon the 
right wing, and swept everything to destruction. But it was the last of 
Stonewall's battles. As night came on, M'ith ruin impending over the 
Federal army, the brave Confederate leader, riding through the gather- 
ing darkness, received a volley from his own li7ies, and fell mortally 
wounded. He lingered a week, and died at Guinea Station, leaving a 
gap in the Confederate ranks which no other man could fill. 

On the morning of the 3d the battle was furiously renewed. Gen- 
eral Sedgwick, attempting to reinforce Hooker from Fredericksburg, was 



THE WORK OF '63. 



51!^ 



dofeated and driven across the Rappaliannock. The main army was 
crowded between Cliancellorsville and the river, where it remained in the 
utmost peril until the evening of the 6th, when General Hooker succeeded 
in withdrawing his forces to the northern bank. The Union losses in 
these terrible liattles amounted in killed, wounded and prisoners to about 
seventeen thousand ; that of the Confederates was less by five thousand. 
Taken altogether, the campaign was the most disastrous of any in which 
the Federal army had yet been engaged. 

The defeat of General Hooker was to some extent mitigated by the 
successful cavalry raid of General Stoneman. On the 29th of April he 
crossed the Rajjpahannock with a body of ten thousand men, tore up the 
Virginia Central Railroad, dashed on to the Chickahominy, cut General 
Lee's conmiunications, 
swept around within 
a few miles of Rich- 
mond, and on the 8th 
of May recrossed the 
Rappahannock in 
safety. At the same 
time, General Peck, 
the Federal command- 
ant of Suffolk, on the 
Nansemond, was suc- 
cessflilly resisting a 
siege conducted by 
General Longstreet. 
The Confederates re- 
treated from before the 
town on the very day 
of the Union disaster 
at Chancellorsville. 

Elated with his 
success on the Riippa- 
hannock. General Lee 
determined to carry 
the war into Mary- 
land and Pennsylvania 




STONEWALL JACKSON.* 



In the first week of June he moved forward 

* The true name of this reraark.ible man was Thnmas Jonathan Jackson. In the be- 
grinning of the battle of Bui! Run, when the Confederates in one part of the field were 
routed and flying, General Bee, pointing to an immovable column of men, cried out, 
"Here is Jackson, standing like a slone mill /" From that day the man at the head of 
that column was called Stonewall Jackson. 



520 



HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 



with liis whole army, crossed the Potoiiiac, and eai^tured Hagerstown. 
On the 2"2d of June the invaders entered Chambersburg, and then 
pressed on tlirough Carlisle to within a few miles of Harrisburg. 
The militia of Pennsylvania was called out, and volunteei-s came 
pouring in from other States. General Hooker, at the head of the 
A.rmy of the Potomac, jmshed forward to strike his antagonist. It 

was evident that 
a great and deci- 
sive battle was at 
h and. General 
Lee, abandoning 
his purpose of 
invasion, raj)i(IIy 
concentrated his 
forces near Get- 
tysburg, the cap- 
ital of Adams 
County, Penn- 
sylvania. On the 
very eve of bat- 
tle the command 
of the Union ar- 
my was transfer- 
red from General 
Hooker to Gen- 
eral (Tcorge G. 
i\Ieade, who has- 
tily advanced his 
forces thro u g h 
the hill -country 
in the direction 
of Gettysburg. 
After more than 

two years of indecisive warfare it seemed that the fate of the Amer- 
ican Republic Mas to be staked on the issue of a single battle. On 
the morning of the 1st of July the Union advance, led by Generals 
Reynolds and Buford, while moving westward from Gettysburg, en- 
countered the Confederate division of General Hill, coming up on the 
road from Hagerstown ; and tlie struggle began. In the afternoon 
strong reinforcements were received and a severe battle was fought 
for the possession of Seminary Ridge. In this initial conflict the 




BATTLE OF GETTYSEIT.G, JULY 1, 



1S63. 



THE WORK OF '63. 521 

Confederates were victorious, drivint; the Union line from its posi- 
tion, througli the viUage, and back to the high grounds southward. 
Here at nightfall a stand was made, and a new battle-line was formed 
reaching from an eminence called Round Top, where the left wing 
rested, around the crest of the ridges to Cemetery Hill, where the 
center was j^osted, and thence to Wolf Hill on Rock Creek. To 
this position, well-chosen and strong, the whole Union army, ex- 
cept Sedgwick's corps, was hurried forward during the night. The 
Confederate forces were all brought into position on Seminary Ridge 
and the high grounds to the left of Rock Creek, forming a semi- 
circle about five miles long. The cavalry of both armies hung upon 
the flanks, doing effective service but hardly participating in the 
main conflict of the center. 

On the morning of July 2d, the corps of General Longstreet on 
the Confederate right moved forward impetuously and attacked the 
Union left under Sickles. The struggle in this part of the field was 
for the possession of Great and Little Round Top; and after terrible 
fighting, which lasted until six o'clock in the evening, these strong 
positions remained in the hands of the Federals. In the center a 
iiimilar conflict, lasting for the greater part of the day, ensued for the 
possession of Cemetery Hill. Here, too, notwithstanding the desper- 
ate assaults of the Confederates, the integrity of the National line wa.s 
l^reserved till nightfall. On the right the Confederate onset was more 
successful, and tlie Union right under General Slocum was somewhat 
shattered. But at ten o'clock at night, when the fighting ceased, it 
was found that the position of the two armies had not been materially 
changed by a conflict which had left forty thousand dead and wounded 
men on the field of battle. 

Under cover of the darkness both generals made arrangements 
to renew the struggle on the morrow, but when morning came both 
were loath to begin. For each felt that this day's action must be de- 
cisive. General Meade had some advantage in the fact that Lee, in 
in order to continue his invasion, must carry the Union position or 
retreat. The whole forenoon of the 3d was spent in preparations. 
At midday there was a lull. Then burst forth the fiercest cannonade 
ever known on the American continent. Until after two o'clock the 
hills were shaken with the thunders of more than two hundred heavy 
puns. The Confederate artillerymen concentrated their fire on the 
Union center at Cemetery Hill which became a scene of indescribable 
uproar and death. Then came the crisis. The cannonade ceased. 
A Confederate column, nearly three miles long, headed by the Vir- 



522 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ginians luuler General Pickett, made a final and desperate charge on 
the Union centre. But the onset was in vain, and the brave men who 
made it were mowed down with terrible slaughter. The victory remaiue<l 
Avith the national army, and Lee was obliged to turn back witli his shat- 
tered legions to the Potomac. The entire Confederate loss in this the 
greatest battle of the war was nearly thirty thousand ; that of the Fede- 
rals in killed, wounded and missing, twenty-three thousand a hundred 
and eighty-six. General Lee withdrew his forces into Virginia, and the 
Union ami}- resumed its old position on the Potomac and the Ilap]iahan- 
nock. Such were the more important military movements of 18(j3. 

During this year the administration of President Lincoln was beset 
with many difficulties. The war-debt of the nation was piling up moun- 
tains high. The last calls for volunteers had not been fully met. The 
anti-war party of the North had grown more bold, and openly denounced 
the measures of the government. On the 3d of March THE Conscrip- 
tion' Act was passed by Congress, and two months afterward the Presi- 
dent ordered a general draft of three hundred thousand men. All able- 
bodied citizens between the ages of twenty and forty-five years were 
subject to the requisition. The measure was bitterly denounced by the 
opponents of the war, and in many places the draft-officers were forcibly 
resisted. On the 13th of July, in the city of New York, a vast mob rose 
in arms, demolished the buildings which were occupied by the provost 
marshals, burned the colored orphan asylum, attacked the police, and 
killed about a hundred people, most of whom were negroes. For three 
days the authorities of the city were set at defiance. On the second 
dav of the reign of terror Governor Seymour arrived and addressed 
the mob in a mild-mannered way, promising that the draft should be 
s^ispended, and advising the rioters to disperse ; but they gave little 
heed to his mellow admonition, and went on with the work of de- 
struction. General Wool, commander of the military district of New 
York, then took the matter in hand ; but the troops at his disposal 
were at first unable to overawe the insurgents. Some volunteer regi- 
ments, however, came trooping home from Gettysburg; the Metropol- 
itan police companies were compactly organized ; and the combined 
forces soon crushed tlie insurrection with a strong hand. After the 
fall of Vicksburg and the retreat of Lee from Pennsylvania, there 
were fewer acts of domestic violence. Nevertheless, the anti-war 
spirit in some parts of the North ran so high that on the 19th of 
August President Lincoln issued a proclamation suspending the priv- 
ileges of the writ of habeas Gor'piin throughout the L^^nion. 

As a means of procuring .soldiers the draft amounted to nothing; 



THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 52:3 

anly about fifty thousand men were thus directly obtained. But volun- 
teering was greatly quickened by the measure, and the employment of 
substitutes soon fiUecl the ranks of the army. Such, however, were the 
terrible losses by battle and disease and the expiration of enlistments 
that in October the President issued another call for three hundred thou- 
sand men. At the same time it was provided that any delinquency in 
meeting the demand would lie supplied by a draft in the following Janu- 
ary. By these active measures the colunuis of the Union army were made 
more powerful than ever. In the armies of the South, on the other hand, 
there were already symptoms of exhaustion, and the most rigorous con- 
scription was necessary to fill the thinned but still courageous ranks o4 
the Confederacy. It was on the 20th of June in this year that West Vir- 
ginia, separated from the Old Dominion, was organized and admitted as 
the thirty-fifth State of the Union. 



CHAPTER LXVI. 

THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 



AS in the previous year, the military movements of 1864 began in the 
West. In the begiiniing of February General Sherman left Vicks- 
burg with the purpose of destroying the railroad connections of Eastern 
Mississippi. Marching toward Alabama, he reached Meridian on the 
15th of the month. Here, where the railroad from Mobile to Corinth 
intersects the line from Vicksburg to Montgomery, the tracks were torn 
up for a distance of a hundred and fifty miles. Bridges were burned, 
locomotives and cars destroyed, vast quantities of cotton and corn given 
to the flames. At Meridian General Sherman expected the arrival of a 
strong force of Federal cavalry which had been sent out from Memphis, 
under command of General Smith. The latter advanced into Mississippi, 
but was met, a hundred miles north of Meridian, by the cavaliy of For- 
rest, and driven back to Memphis. Disappointed of the expected junc- 
tion of his forces, General Sherman retraced his course to Vicksburg. 
Forrest continued his raid northward, entered Tennessee, and on the 24th 
of March captured Union City. Pressing on, he reached Paducah, Ken- 
tucky, made an assault on Fort Anderson, in tlie suburbs of the town, but 
was repulsed with a loss of three hundred men. Turning back into Ten- 
nessee, he came upon Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi, seventy miles 
above Memphis. The place was defended by five hundred and sixty 



524 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 

soldiers, about half of whom were negroes. Forrest, having gained 
the outer defences, demanded a surrender, hut was refused. He 
then ordered an assault, and carried the fort by storm. 

To the spring of 1864 belongs the story of the Ked River Expe- 
dition, conducted by General Banks. The object had in view was the 
capture of Shreveport, tlie seat of the Confedci'ate government of Louisi- 
ana. A strong land-force M'as to march up Red River, supported by s 
fleet of gunboats, under command of Admiral Porter. The army was 
composed of three divisions: the first, from Vicksburg, numbering ten 
thousand, commanded by General Smith ; the second, from Xew Orleans, 
led by General Banks in person; the third, from Little Rock, under com- 
mand of General Steele. In the beginning of March Smith's division 
moved forward to Red River, and was joined by Porter with the fleet. 
On the 14th of the same month the advance reached Fort de Russy, 
■which was taken by assault. The Confederates retreated up the river to 
Alexandria, and on the Kjth that city was occupied by the Federals. 
Three days afterward Xatchitociies was captured; but here the road 
turned from the river, and further co-operation between the gunboats 
and the army was impossible. Tlie flotilla proceeded uj) stream toward 
Shreveport, anil the land-forces whirled otf in a circuit to the left. 

On the 8th of April, when the advanced brigades were approach- 
ing the town of Mansfield, they were suddenly attacked by the Confede- 
rates in full force and advantageously posted. After a short and bloody 
engagement, the Federals were completely routed. The victors made a 
vigorous pursuit as far as Pleasant Hill, where they were met on the 
next day by the main body of the Union army. Tb.e battle was renewed 
with great spirit, and the Federals were barely saved from ruin by the 
hard fighting of the division of General Smith, who covered the retreat 
to the river. Nearly three thousand men, twenty pieces of artillery and 
the supply-trains of the Federal army were lost in these clisastnius bat- 
tles. With great difficulty the flotilla descended the' river from the direc- 
tion of Shreveport ; for the Confederates had now jjianted batteries on the- 
banks. When the Federals had retreated as far as Alexandria, they were- 
again brought to a standstill ; tiie river had fallen to so low a stage that 
the gunboats could not pass the rapids. The squadron was finally saved 
from its peril by the skill of Colonel Bailey of Wisconsin, who constructed 
a dam across the river, raising the water so that the vessels could be 
floated over. The whole expedition returned as rapidly as possible to 
the Mississippi. General Steele had, in the mean time, made an advance 
from Little Rock to aid in the reduction of Shreveport ; but learning of 
the Federal defeats, he withdrew after several severe engagements. To the. 



THE CLOSING COXFLICTS. 



52c 



national government the Red River expedition was a source of much 
shamt and mortification. General Banks was relieved of his command, 
and General Canby was appointed to succeed him. 

On the 2d of ]\Iarcli, 18G4, General Grant was appointed com- 
mander-in-chief of all tiie armies of the United States. The high grade 
of lieutenant-general was revived by act of Congress, and conferred upon 
him. No less tlian seven liundred tliousand Union soldiers were now to 
move at Ins command. The first montli after his appointment was spent 
in planning the great campaigns of the year. These were two in num- 
ber. The Army of tlie Potomac, under command of Meade and the gcn- 
eral-in-chief, was to ad- 
vance upon Richmond, 
still defended by the 
Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia, under Lee. Gen- 
eral Sherman, commantl- 
ing tlie army at Ciiatta- 
nooga, now numbering 
a hundred thousand men, 
was to march against 
Atlanta, which was de- 
fended by the Confed- 
erates, under General 
Johnston. To these two 




SHERMAN'S CAMPAIGN, 1864. 



great movements all other military operations were to be subordinate. 

On the 7th of ^May General Sherman moved forward from Chatta- 
nooga. At Dalton he was confronted by the Confederate army, sixty tliou- 
sand strong. After some manoeuvring and fighting, he succeeded in turning 
Johnston's flank, and obliged iiim to fall back to Resaca. After two hard 
battles on the 14th and 15th of May, this place was also carried, and the 
Confederates retreated by way of Callioun and Kingston to Dallas. 
Here, on the 28tli, Johnston made a second stand, entrenched himself 
and fought, but was again outnumbered, outflanked, and compelled to 
fall back to Lost Alountain. From this position he was forced on the 
IVtIi of June, after three days of desultory fighting. The next stand of 
the Confederates was made on the Great and Little Kenesaw Mountains. 
From this line on the 22d of June the division of General Hood made a 
fierce attack upon the Union centre, but was repulsed with heavy losses. 
Five days afterward General Sherman attempted to carry the Great Ken- 
esaw by storm. The assault was made with great audacity, but ended in 
a dreadful repulse and a loss of three thousand men. Sherman, undis^ 



526 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

mayed by liis reverse, resumed liis former tactics, outflanked liis antago- 
nist, and on tiie 3d of July compelled him to retreat across the Chatta- 
hoochee. By the 10th of the month the whole Confederate army had 
retired within the defences of Atlanta. 

This stronghold of the Confederacy was at once besieged. Here 
were the great machine-shops, foundries, car-works and depots ofsupplies 
upon the possession of which so much depended. At the very beginning 
of the siege the cautious and skillful General Johnston was superseded by 
the rash but daring General J. B. Hood. It was the policy of the latter 
to fif/ht at M-hatcver hazard. On the 20th, 22d and 28th of July he made 
three desperate assaults on the Union lines around Atlanta, but was re- 
pulsed with dreadful losses in each engagement. It was in the beginning 
of the second of these battles that the brave General James B. McPherson, 
the pride of the Union army, Mas killed while reconnoitring the Con- 
federate lines. In the three conflicts the Confederates lost more men 
than Johnston had lost in all his masterly retreating and fighting between 
Chattanooga and Atlanta. For more than a month the siege was pressed 
with great vigor. At last, by an incautious movement, Hood separated 
his army ; Sherman thrust a column between the two divisions ; and the 
immediate cvacniation of Atlanta followed. On the 2d of September the 
Union army marched into the captured city. Since leaving Chattanooga 
General Sherman had lost fully thirty thousand men ; and the Confederate 
losses were even greater. 

By retiring from jVtlanta Hood saved his army. It was now his 
})olicy to strike northward into Tennessee, and thus compel Sherman to 
evacuate Georgia. But the latter had no notion of losing his vantage- 
ground ; and after following Hood north of the Chattahoochee, he turned 
back to Atlanta. The Confederate general now swept up through Northern 
Alabama, crossed the Tennessee at Florence and advanced on Nashville. 
Meanwhile, General Thomas, with the Army of the Cumberland, had 
been detached from Sherman's army at Atlanta and sent northward to 
confront Hood in Tennessee. General Schofield, who commanded the 
Federal forces in the southern part of the State, fell back before the Con- 
federates and took post at Franklin, eighteen miles south of Nashville. 
Here, on the .30th of November, he was attacked by Hood's legions, and 
after a hard-fought battle held them in check till nightfall, when he 
escaped across the river and retreated within the defences of Nashville. 
At this ])lace all of General Thomas's forces were rapidly concentrated. 
A line of entrenchments was drawn around the city on the south. Hood 
came on, confident of victory, and prepared to begin the siege by block- 
ading the Cumberland ; but before the work was fairly begun, General 



THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 



527 



Thomas, on the 15th of December, moved from his works, fell upon the 
Confederate army, and routed it wiih a loss, in killed, wounded and 
prisoners, of more than 

twenty-five thousand , ___ 

men. For many days 
of freezing weather 
Hood's shattered col- 
umns were jjursued, 
until at last they found 
refuge in Alabama. 
The Confederate army 
was ruined, and the 
rash general who had 
led it to destruction 
was relieved of his 
command. 

On the 14th of 
November General 
Sherman burned At- 
lanta and began his 
famous March to 
THE Sea. His army 
of veterans numbered 
sixty thousand men. 
Believing that Hood's 
army would be de- 
stroyed in Tennessee, and knowing that no Confederate force could with- 
.stand him in front, he cut his communications with the North, abandoned 
his base of supplies, and struck out boldly for the sea-coast, more than 
two hundred and fifty miles away. As had been foreseen, the Confed- 
erates could offer no successful resistance. The Union army swept ok 
through Macon and Milledgeville ; reached the Ogeechee and crossed in 
safety ; captured Gibson and Waynesborough ; and on the 10th of De- 
cember arrived in the vicinity of Savannah. On the IStii Fort McAllister, 
below the city, was carried by storm by the division of General Hazen. 
On the night of the 20th General Hardee, the Confederate commandant, 
escaped from Savannah with fifteen thousand men and retreated to 
Charleston. On the following morning tlie national advance entered, 
and on the 22d General Sherman made his headquarters in the city. On 
his march from Atlanta he had lost only five hundred and sixty-seven men. 

The month of January, 1865, was spent by the Union army at 




GENEBAL THOMAS. 



5S8 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATE,'^. 



Savaunali. On the l.st of February General Sherman, having garri- 
soned the city, began his marcli against Columbia, the capital of South 
Carolina. To the Confederates the further progress of the invasion 
through the swamps and morasses of the State had seemed impossible. 

Now tiiat the veteran 
legions were again 
in motion, alalia 
and terror pervaded 
the country. Gov- 
ernor INIagarth had 
already summoned 
to the field every 
white man in the 
State between the 
ages of sixteen and 
sixty; but the requi' 
sition was comj)ar- 
a t i V e 1 y i neifectuai . 
Xe verthcless, the 
Confederates formed 
a line of defence 
along the Salkhatcli- 
ie and prepared to 
dispute' Sherman's 
inarch northward. 
It was all in vain. 
The passages of the 
river were forced, 
and on the 11th of the month tiie Confederate lines of communica- 
tion between Charleston and Augusta were cut oft'. On the next day 
Orangeburg was taken by the Seventeenth Corps. On tlie 14th the 
fords and bridges of the Conffaree were carried and the State road 
opened in the direction of Columbia. The several divisions pressed 
rapidly forward; bridges were thrown across the Broad and Saluda 
Rivers, and the capital lay at the mercy of the conquerors. On the 
morning of the 17th Mayor Goodwyn and a committee of the com- 
mon council came out in carriages aud the city was formally sur- 
rendered. 

As .soon as it became certain that Columbia must fall into the 
hands of the Federals, General Hardee, the commandant of Charles- 
ton, determined to abandon that city also, and to join Generals Beau- 




GENERAI. SHERMAN. 



THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 529 

regard and Johnston in North Carolina. Accordingly, on the day of 
the captui-e of the capital, guards were detailed to destroy all the ware- 
houses, stores of cotton, and depots of supplies in Charleston. The 
torch was applied, the flanies raged, and consternation spread througii- 
out the city. The great depot of the Northwestern Railway, where a 
large quantity of powder was stored, caught fire, blew up with territit: 
violence, and buried two hundred people in the ruins. Not until four 
squares in the best part of the city were laid in ashes was the confla- 
gration checked. During the same night General Hardee with his 
fourteen thousand troops escaped from desolate Charleston and made 
his way northward. On the morning of the 18th the news was borne 
to the National forces on James's and Morris Islands. During the 
forenoon the Stars and Stripes were again raised over Forts Sumter, 
Ripley, and Pinckney. Mayor Macbeth surrendered the city ti^ a 
company wiiieli was sent up from Morris Island. The work of saving 
whatever might be rescued from the flames was at once begun, the 
citizens and the Federal soldiers working together. By strenuous ex- 
ertions the principal arsenal was saved ; a depot of rice was also pre- 
served and its contents distributed to the poor. Colonel Stewart L. 
Woodford of the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh New York was 
appointed military governor; and relations, more friendly than might 
have been expected, were soon established between the soldiery and 
the citizens. 

After destroying the arsenals, machine shops, and founderies of 
Columbia General Sherman immediately renewed his march north- 
ward in the direction of Charlotte, North Carolina. The army swept 
on without opposition as far as Winnslioro, where a junction was ef- 
fected with the Twentieth Corps under Slocum. Crossing the Great Pe- 
dee at Cheraw, the Union commander pressed on towards Fayetteville 
where he arrived without serious hindrance, and on the 11th of March 
took possession of the town. Three days before the camjiaign had 
been rendered exciting by a dashing fight between Ham])ton's and 
Kilpatrick's cavalrv. The former officer was defending the rear of 
Hardee's column on the retreat from Charleston when the latter, re- 
solving to intercept him, cut through the Confederate lines. But 
early the next morning Kilpatrick was surprised in his quarters, at- 
tacked, and routed, himself barely escaping on foot into a swamp. 
Here, however, he suddenly rallied his forces, turned on the Confed- 
erates and scattered them in a brilliant charge. Hampton, not less 
resolute than his antagonist, now made a rally and returned to the 

onset. But Kilpatrick held his ground until he was reinforced bv &, 
34 



530 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

division of the Twentieth Corps under General Mitchell, when the 
Confederates were finally driven back. The Union cavalry then pro- 
ceeded without further molestation to Fayetteville where Sherman's 
forces were concentrated on the 11th of March. 

General Johnston had now been recalled to the command of the 
Confederate forces, and the advance of the Union forces began to be 
seriously opposed. At Averasborough, on Cape Fear River, a short 
distance north of Fayetteville, General Hardee made a stand, but was 
repulsed with considerable loss. When, on the 19th of March, Gen- 
eral Sherman was incautiously approaching Bentonsville, he was sud- 
denly attacked by the ever-vigilant Johnston, and for a while the 
Union army, after all its marches and victories, was in danger of des- 
truction. But the tremendous fighting of General Jefferson C. Davis's 
division saved the day, and on the 21st Sherman entered Goldsborough 
unopposed. Here he was reinforced by a strong column from New- 
bern under General Schofield, and another from Wilmington com- 
manded by General Terry. The Federal army now turned to the 
north-west, and on the 13th of April entered Raleigh. This was the 
end of the great march; and here, thirteen days after liis arrival, Gen- 
eral Sherman received the surrender of Johnston's army. 

While these great and decisive events were taking place in the 
Carolinas, the famous cavalry raid of General Stoneman was in pro- 
gress. About the middle of March he set out from Knoxville with a 
force of six thousand men, crossed the mountains, captured Wilkes- 
boro, and forced his way across the Yadkin at Jonesville. It had 
been the original purpose of the raid that Stoneman should make a 
diversion in favor of Sherman by striking into the western districts, 
of South Carolina ; but that commander, by the celerity of his move- 
ments, had already reached Goldsboro in the North State, and was in 
no need of help. Stoneman's movement therefore became an inde- 
pendent expedition, the general object being the destruction of public 
property, the capture of Confederate stores, and the tearing up of 
railroads. Turning to the north, the troopers traversed the western 
end of North Carolina and entered Carroll county, Virginia. At 
Wytheville the railroad was torn up, and then the whole line was de- 
stroyed from the bridge over New River to within four miles of Lynch- 
burg. Christiansburg was captured and the track of the railway ob- 
literated for ninety miles. Turning first to Jacksonville and then 
southward, the expedition next struck and destroyed the North Caro- 
lina Railroad between Danville and Greensboro. The track in the 
direction of Salisbury was also torn up, and the factories at Salem. 



THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 



531 



burned. The Union prisoners at Salisbury were removed by the 
Confederates in time to prevent their liberation ; but the town was 
captured and a vast store of ammunition, arms, provision, clothing, and 
cotton fell into the hands of the raiders. Finally, on the 19th of April, 
a division under Major Moderwell reached the great bridge where the 
South Carolina Rail- 
road crosses the Ca- 
tawba River. This 
magnificent struct- 
ure, eleven hundred 
and fifty feet in 
length, was set on 
fire and completely 
destroyed. After a 
fight with Fergu- 
son's Confederate 
cavalry, the Feder- 
als turned back to 
Dallas, where all tlie 
divisions were con- 
centrated, — and the 
raid was at an end. 
During the jirogress 
of the expedition 
six thousand prison- 
ers, forty-si x pieces 
of artillery, and im- 
mense quantities of 

small arms had fallen into the hands of Stoneman's men : the amount 
of property destroyetl and the damage otherwise done to the tottering 
Confederacy could not be estimated. 

Meanwhile, events of even greater importance had occurred on 
the gulf and the Atlantic coast. In the beginning of August, 1864, 
Admiral Farragut bore down with a powerful squadron upon the de- 
fences of Mobile. The entrance to the harlior of this city was com- 
manded on the left by Fort Gaines, and on the right by Fort Morgan. 
The harbor itself was defended by a Confederate fleet and the monster 
iron-clad ram Tennessee. On the 5th of August Farragut prepared 
for battle and ran past the forts into the harl)or. In order to direct 
the movements of his vessels, the brave old admiral mounted to the 
maintop of his flag-ship, the Hartford, lashed liimself to the rigging, 




ADMIRAL FARRAGUT. 



532 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and fnim that high perch gave his commands during the battle. One 
of the Union ships struck a torpedo and went to the bottom. The 
rest attaclced and dispersed the Confederate squadron ; but just as the 
bay seemed won the terrible Tennessee came down at full speed to 
strike and sink the Hartford. The latter avoided the blow ; and then 
followed one of the fiercest conflicts of the war. The Union iron-clads 
closed around their black antagonist and battered her with their beaks 
and fifteen-inch bolts of iron until she surrendered. Two days after- 
ward Fort Gaines was taken ; and on tiie 23d of tlie month Fort 
Morgan was obliged to cai>itulate. The port of Mobile was effectually 
.sealed up. 

Not less important to the Union cause was the capture of Fort 
Fisher. Tliis powerful fortress commanded the entrance to Cape Fear 
River and Wilmington — the last sea-port held by the Confederates. In 
December Admiral Porter was sent with the most powerful American 
squadron ever afloat to besiege and take the fort. General Butler, witii 
a land-force of six thousand five hundred men, accompanied the expedi- 
tion. On the 24tli of the month the bombardment began, and the troops 
were sent ashore with orders to carry the works by storm. When Gen 
eral Weitzel, who led the column, came near enough to the fort to recon- 
noitre, he decided that an assault could only end with the destruction of 
his army. General Butler held the same opinion, and the enterprise was 
abandoned. Admiral Porter remained before Fort Fisher \vith his fleet, 
and General Butler returned with the land-forces to Fortress Monroe. 
Early in January the same troops were sent back to Wilmington, under 
conuuand of General Terry. The siege was at once renewed by the armv 
and the fleet, and on the 15th of the month Fort Fisher was taken by 
storm. 

In the previous October the control of Albemarle Sound had been 
secured by a daring exploit of Lieutenant Cushing of the Federal navy. 
These waters were commanded by a tremendous iron ram called the Albe- 
marle. In order to destroy the dreaded vessel a number of daring volun- 
teers, led by Cushing, embarked in a small steamer, and on the night of 
the 27th of October entered tlie Roanoke. The ram was discovered lying 
at the harbor of Plymouth. Cautiously approaching, the lieutenant with 
his own hands sank a terrible torpedo under the Confederate ship, ex- 
ploded it, and left the ram a ruin. The adventure cost the lives or cap- 
ture of all of Cushing's party exceut himself and one other, who escaped. 
A few days afterward the town of Plymoutli was taken by the Federals. 

During the progress of the war the commerce of the United Stat<^s 
had suflered dreadfullv from tlie attacks of Confederate cruisei-s. As 



THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 533 

early as 1861 the Southern Congress had granted commissions to priva- 
teers ; but neutral nations would not allow such vessels to bring prizes 
into their ports, and the Privateering Act was of little direct benefit to 
the Confederacy. But the commerce of the United States was greatly 
injured. The first Confederate ship sent out was the Savannah, which 
was captured on the same day that she escaped from Charleston. In June 
of 1861 the Sumter, commanded by Captain Semmes, ran the blockade at 
Xew Orleans, and for seven months did fearful work with the Union 
merchantmen. But in February of 1862 Semmes was chased into the 
harbor of Gibraltar, where he \\as obliged to sell his vessel and discharge 
his crew. In the previous October the Nashi'il/e ran out from Charles- 
ton, went to England, and returned with a cargo worth three millions of 
dollars. In March of 1863 she was sunk by a Union iron-clad in the 
mouth of the Savannah River. 

The ports of the Southern States were now so closely blockaded 
that war-vessels could no longer be sent abroad. In this emergency the 
Confederates turned to the ship-yards of Great Britain, and from that 
vantage-ground began to build and equip their cruisers. In spite of the 
remonstrances of the United States, the British government connived at 
this proceeding ; and here was laid the foundation of a difficulty which 
afterward cost the treasury of England fifteen millions of dollars. In the 
harbor of Liverpool the Florida was fitted out ; and going to sea in the 
summer of 1862, she succeeded in running into Mobile Bay. Escaping 
in the following January, she destroyed fifteen merchantmen, was cap- 
tured in the harbor of Bahia, Brazil, and brought into Hampton Roads, 
where an accidental collision sent her to the bottom. The Georgia, the 
Ofiistee, the Shenandoah and the Chiclmmauga, all built at the ship-yards 
of Glasgow, Scotland, escaped to sea and made great havoc with the mer- 
chant-ships of the United States. At the capture of Fort Fisher the 
Chickamauga and another cruiser called the Tallahassee were blown up 
by the Confederates. The Georgia was captured in 1863, and the Shen- 
andoah continued abroad until the close of the war. 

Most destructive of all the Confederate vessels was the famous 
Alabama, built at Liverpool. Her commander was Captain Raphael 
Semmes, the same who had cruised in the Sumter. A majority of the 
crew of the Alabama were British subjects ; her armament ^\•as entirely 
British; and whenever occasion required, the Bi'itish flag was carried. 
In her whole career, involving the destruction of sixty-six vessels and a 
loss of ten million dollars to the merchant service of the United States, 
she never entered a Confederate port, but continued abroad, capturing 
and burning. Early in the summer of 1864 Semmes entered the harbor 



534 HISTOEV OF THE VNITED STATES. 

of Cherbourg, Fi-ance, and was there discovered by Captain Winslow, 
commander of the steamer Kearsarge. The French government gave 
the Confederate captain orders to leave the port, and on the 19th of 
June he went out to give his antagonist battle. Seven miles from 
the shore the two ships closed for the death-struggle; and after a 
desperate battle of an hour's duration, the Alabama was sliattered 
and sunk. Semmes and a part of his officers and crew were picked 
up by the English yacht Ihcrliound and carried to Southamjiton. 

After the great battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate army under 
General T^ee was withdrawn into the Shenandoah valley. The Union 
cavalry, led by General (iregg, jiressed after iiim and at Shepherds- 
town gained some advantage over the division of Fitzhugh Lee. 
Meade himself, at the head of the Army of the Potomac, entered Vir- 
ginia near Berlin and moved southward through Lovettsville to War- 
renton. The Blue Ridge was again interjjosed between the two armies. 
It was the policy of the Union commander to preoccupy and hold the 
passes of the mountains and to strike his antagonist a fatal blow when 
he should attempt to return to Richmond. But Lee's movements 
were marked witli his usual caution and sagacity. Making a feint of 
crowding his army through Manassas Gap, he succeeded in drawing 
thither the bulk of the Federal forces, and then by a rapid march 
southward gained Front Royal and Chester Gap, swept through the 
pass, and reached Culpepper in safety. General Meade, disappointed 
in his expectations of a battle, advanced his army and took up a po- 
sition on the Rappahannock. 

In the lull that ensued from July till September of 1863, both 
generals were much weakened by the witiidrawal of large numbers of 
their troops to take part in the struggles of the Southwest. From 
Lee's army Longstreet's whole corps had been detached for the aid of 
Bragg who was hard pressed Ijy Rosecrans, in Tennessee. General 
Meade, learning of the weakened condition of his foe, crossed the 
Rappahannock, pressed him back to the south bank of the Rapidan 
and himself occuoied Culpepper. Soon, however, Howard's and Slo- 
cum's corps were withdrawn from the Army of the Potomac, and 
Meade was in turn obliged to act on the defensive. But his ranks 
Avere soon filled with reinforcements and the middle of October found 
liim planning a forward movement. Lee, however, had already as- 
sumed the offensive and by skillful manoeuvers had again thrown his 
army on the Union flank. Then began the old race for the Potomac, 
and in that the Federals were successful, reaching Bristow Station and 
taking uj) a strong position on the Heights of Centrcville. Lee in 



THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 



535 



turn fell back and the two great armies at last came to rest for the 
winter, the one at Culpepper and the other on the Upiier Rap2)ahan- 
noek. 

In the following spring no movements of importance occurred 
until the beginning of the campaign of the Army of the Potomac, 
now commandtnl by Generals 
Grant and Meade ; and this, 
which may well be consider- 
ed as one of the great cam- 
paigns of history, has been 
reserved for the closing nar- 
rative of the war. On the 
night of the 3d of May, 1864, 
the national camp at Culpep- 
per was broken up, and the 
march on R i c h m o n d w a s 
begun. In three successive 
eummers the Union army 
had been beaten back from 
that metropolis of the Confed- 
eracy. Now a hundred and 
forty thousand men, led by 
the lieutenant-general, were 
to begin the final struggle 
with the veterans of Lee. 
On the first day of the ad- 
vance Grant crossed the Ra])- 
idan and entered the Wilder- 
ness, a country of oak woods and thickets west of Chancellorsville. 
He was immediately confronted and attacked by the Confederate 
army. During the 5th, 6th and 7th of the month the fighting con- 
tinued incessantly with terrible losses on both sides; but the results 
were indecisive. Lee retired within his intrenchments, and Grant 
made a flank movement on the left in the direction of Spottsylvania 
Court-house. Here followed, from the morning of the 9th till the 
night of the 12th, one of the bloodiest struggles of the war. The 
Federals gained some ground and captured the division of General 
Stewart ; but the losses of Lee, who fought on the defensive, were less 
dreadful than those of his antagonist. 

After the battle of Spottsylvania, Grant again moved to the left, 
crossed the Pamunkey to Hanovertown, and came to a place called 




OPERATIONS IN VIRGINIA, '64. AND '6o, 



536 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Cold Harbor, twelve miles north-east of Richmond. Here, on the 1st 
of June, he attaeked the Confederates, strongly posted, but was re- 
pulsed with heavy losses. On the morning of the 3d the assault was 
renewed, and in the brief space of half an hour nearly ten thousand 
Union soldiers fell dead or wounded before the Confederate entrench- 
ments. The repulse of the Federals was complete, but they held their 
lines as firmly as ever. Since the l)eginning of the campaign the 
losses of the Army of the Potomac, including the corps of Burnside, 
had reached the enormous aggregate of sixty thousand. During the 
same period the Confederates had lost in killed, wounded and pris- 
oners about thirty-five thousand men. 

General Grant now changed his base to James River with a view 
to the capture of Petersburg and the conquest of Richmond from the 
south-east. General Butler had already moved with a strong division 
from Fortress Monroe, and on the 5th of May had taken Bermuda Hun- 
dred and City Point, at the mouth of the Appomattox. Advancing 
against Petersburg, he was met on the 16th by the corps of General 
Beauregard and driven back to his position at Bermuda Hundred, where 
he was obliged to entrench himself and act on the defensive. Here, on 
the 15th of June, he was joined by General Grant's whole army, and the 
combined forces moved against Petersburg. On the 17tli and 18th sev- 
eral assaults Mere made on the Confederate entrenchments, but the works 
could not be carried. Lee's army was hurried within the defences, and 
in the latter part of June Petersburg was regularly besieged. 

jSIeanwhilc, movements of great importance M-cre taking place in 
the Shenandoah valley. When General Grant moved forward from the 
Rapidan, he sent General Sigel up the valley with a force of eight thou- 
sand men. While the latter M'as advancing southward he was met at 
jVew Market, fifty miles above Winchester, by an army of Confederate 
cavalry, under General Breckinridge. On the 15th of May Sigel was 
attacked and routed, and the command of his flying forces M-as transferred 
to General Hunter. Deeming the valley cleared, Breckinridge returned 
to Richmond, whereupon Hunter faced about, marched toward Lynchburg, 
came upon the Confederates at Piedmont, and gained a signal victory. 
From this jilace he advanced witli his own forces and the cavalry troops 
of General Averill against Lynchburg; but finding that he liad run into 
peril, he was obliged to retreat across the mountains into '\\'est Virginia. 
By this movement the valley of the Shenandoah was again exposed to an 
invasion by the Confederates. 

In the hope of compelling Grant to raise the siege of Petersburg, 
Lee immediately despatched General Early witli orders to cross the Blue 



THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 537 

Ridge, sweep down the valley, invade Maryland and threaten Washing- 
ton city. With a force of twenty thousand men Earl)^ began his move- 
ment northward, and on the otli of July crossed the Potomac. On the 
9th he met the division of General Wallace on the Monocacy, and de- 
feated him with serious losses. But the check given to the Confederates 
by the battle saved Washington and Baltimore from capture. After 
dashing up within gunshot of these cities, Early ordered a retreat, and 
on the 12th his forces recrossed the Potomac with vast quantities of 
plunder. 

General Wright, who was sent in pursuit of Early's army, fol- 
lowed him as far as Winchester, and there, on the 24th of July, defeated 
a portion of his forces. But Early wheeled upon his antagonist, and the 
Union troops were in turn driven across the Potomac. Following up his 
advantage, the Confederate general next invaded Pennsylvania, burned 
Chambersburg, and returned into the valley laden with spoils. Seeing 
the necessity of putting an end to these devastating raids. General Grant 
in the beginning of August appointed General Philip H. Sheridan to the 
command of the consolidated army on the Upper Potomac. Tlie troops 
thus placed at Slieridan's disposal numbered nearly forty thousand, and 
with these he at once moved uj) the valley. On the 19tli of September 
l>e came upon Early's army at Winchester, attacked and routed him in a 
hard-fought battle. On the 22d he overtook the defeated army at Fish- 
er's Hill, a-ssaulted Early in his entrenchments, and gained another com- 
plete victory. 

In accordance M"ith orders given by the commander-in-chief, Sher- 
idan now turned about to ravage the valley. The ruinous work wa.s fear- 
fully well done; and what with torch and axe and sword, there was noth- 
ing left between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies worth fighting for. 
Maddened by this destruction and stung by his defeats, the veteran Early 
rallied his shattered forces, gathered reinforcements, and again entered 
the valley. Sheridan had posted his army in a strong position on Cedar 
Creek, a short distance from Strasburg, and feeling secure, had gone to 
Washington. On the morning of the 19th of October Early cautiously 
approached the Union camp, surprised it, burst in, carried the position, 
captured the artillery, and sent the routed troops flying in confusion to- 
ward Winchester. Tlie Confederates pursued as far as Middletown, and 
there, believing the victory complete, paused to eat and rest. On the 
previous night Sheridan had returned to Winchester, and was now com- 
ing to rejoin his army. On his way he heard the sound of battle, rode 
twelve miles at full speed, met the panic-struck fugitives, rallied them 
with a word, turned upon the astonished Confederates, and gained one 



o38 HISTORY OF THE US IT ED STATES. 

of the most signal victories of the war. Early's army was disorganized 
and ruined. Such was the end of the strife in tlie valley of the Shenan- 
doah. 

All fall and winter long, General Grant pressed the siege of Peters- 
burg with varying success. On the 30th of July a mine Avas exploded 
under one of the forts. An assaulting colunni sprang forward to carry 
the works, gained some of the defences, but was finally repulsed with 
heavy losses. On the 18th of August a division of the Union army 
seized the Wcldon Railroad and held it against several desperate a&saults, 
in which each army lost thousands of men. On the 28th of September 
Battery Harrison, on the right bank of the James, was stormed by the 
Federals, and on the next day General Paine's brigade of colored soldiers 
carried a powerful redoubt on Spring Hill. On the 27th of October 
there was a hard-fought battle on the Boydton road, south of Petersburg ; 
and then the army went into quarters for the winter. 

Late in February the struggle began anew. On the 27tli of the 
month General Sheridan, who had moved from the Shenandoah, gained a 
victory over the forces of General Early at Waynesborough, and then joined 
the commander-in-chief at Petereburg. On the 1st of April a severe 
battle was fought at Five Forks, on the Southside Railroad, in which the 
Confederates were defeated with a loss of six thousand prisoners. On 
the next day Grant ordered a general assault on the lines of Petersburg, 
and the works were carried. On that night the army of General Lee and 
the members of the Confederate government fled from Richmond ; and on 
the following morning that city, as well as Petersburg, was entered by the 
Federal army. The warehouses of the ill-fated Confederate capital were 
fired l>y the retreating soldiers, and the better part of the city was reduced 
to ruins. 

The strife lasted but a few days longer. General Lee retreated 
as rapidly as possible to the south-west, hoping to join the army of 
General Johnston from Carolina. The Confederates, flying from Pe- 
tersburg, joined those on the retreat from Richmond at Amelia Court 
House. To this place General I^ee had ordered his supply-trains; 
but the officer having the same in charge, had foolishly mistaken his 
orders and driven the train on in the direction of Danville. Nearly one- 
half of the Confederate army, now growing hopeless, had to be dis- 
persed to gather supplies by foraging. The 4th and 5th of April — 
days precious to the sinking heart of Lee — were consumed with the 
delay. The victorious Federals were pressing on in full pursuit; and 
on the morning of the 6th nearly the whole Union army was at Jet- 
tersville, on the Danville railroad, ready to strike the Confederates at 



THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 



539 



Amelia. Sheridan pressed on by the left flank in the direction of 
Deatonsville. Ord came up with liis division by way of the South 
Side Railroad to Burke's Station. Lee fell back to the west from 
Amelia Court House and reached Deatonsville where a severe battle 
was fought, in which Swell's division six thousand strong was over- 
whelmed and captured by Sheridan. The main army of the Confed- 
erates, however, gained tiic Appomattox at Farmville, crossed to the 
northern bank, and burned the bridges. Lee now endeavored to in- 
terpose the river as a barrier between himself and his relentless pur- 
suers; but it was all in vain. Hoping against hope, he made a des- 



_.--. CoNfEDRRATE RSTBBAT 

"— — Federal advance 

R0AD3 




\. 



PETERSBURG, RICHMOND, APPOMATTOX, 1865. 

perate effort to hold the line of the Lynchburg Railroad, but the vig- 
ilant Sheridan was there before him. On the 7th of April a slight 
success in battle gave a momentary encouragement to the exhausted 
army ; but the flame of hope was blown out as soon as kindled. On 
that day General Grant, now at Farmville, addressed a note to the 
Confederate commander expressing a desire that the further effusion 
of blood might be saved by the surrender of the Confederate army. 
To this General Lee replied by declaring his desire for peace but add- 
ing that the occasion for the surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virginia had not arrived. On the morning of the 9th, however, 
when it became known that the left wing of the Union army had se- 
cured the line of the Lynchburg Railroad — when the wreck of Long- 
street's veterans, attempting to continue the retreat, were confronted 
and driven back by Sheridan — then the iron-souled Confederate leader, 
seeing the utter uselessness of a further struggle, sent General Grant 
a note asking for a meeting preliminary to a surrender. The Union 
commander immediately complied with the request. At two o'clock 
in the afternoon of Palm Sunday, the 9th of April, 1865^ the two 




540 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

great generals met each other in the parlor of William McLean at 
Appomattox Court House. There the terms of surrender were dis- 
cussed and settled. It was agreed that General Grant should put his 
proposition in the form of a military note to which General Lee 
should return a formal answer. The Union commander accordingly 
drew up and presented the following memorandum : 

Appomattox Court House, Va., April 9, 1865. 
General: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of tlie Sth inst- 
ant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the fol- 
lowing terms, to-wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate; one 
copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such 
other officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual 
paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly 
exchanged; and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole for the 
men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property, to be parked, and 
stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not 
embrace the side-arms of the officers nor their priv.ate horses or baggage. This done, 
eacli officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by 
United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force 

where thev reside. ^^ ^, ,,„,,tt, t- , ,/. , 

U. S. GR.\]ST, Lieutenant-Geiieral. 

To this memorandum General Lee responded as follows: 

Head-Quarters, Army of Northern Virginia, April 9, 1865. 
General: I received your letter of this date, containing the terms of the surren- 
der of the Army ot Northern Virginia, as proposed by you. As they are substantially 
the same as those expressed in your letter of the Sth instant, they are accepted. 1 
will proceed to designate tlie proper officers to carry the stipulations into efieot. 

E. E. LEE, G'e)i«-o/. 

Thus the work Avas done! How the ariuy of General Johnston 
was surrendered at Raleigh a few days later has already been nar- 
rated. After four dreadful years of bloodshed, deva.station, and sorrow, 
THE Civil War in the United States was at an end. 

Tlie Federal authority was rapidly extended over the Southern 
States. After the surrender of Lee and Johnston, there was no fiu'ther 
hope of reorganizing the Confederacy. INIr. Davis and his cabinet escaped 
to Danville, and there for a few days kept up the forms of government. 
From tiiat place they fled into North Carolina and M'ere scattered. The 
ex-President with a few friends continued his flight tlirough South Caro- 
lina into Georgia, and encamped near the village of Irwinsville, where, on 
the 10th of May, he was captured by General Wilson's cavalry. He was 
conveyed as a prisoner to Fortress Monroe, and kept in confinement until 
May of 1867, when he was taken to Richmond to be tried on a charge of 



^ 



^ 



THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 54t 

treason. He was admitted to bail ; and his cause, after remaining untried 
for a year and a half, was finally dismissed. 

At the presidential election in the autumn preceding the downfall 
of the Confederacy, Mr. Lincoln was chosen for a second term. As Vice- 
President, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee was elected in place of Mr. 
Hamlin. The opposing candidates, supported by the Democratic party, 
were General George B. McClellan and George H. Pendleton of Ohio. 
Mr. Lincoln's majority was very heavy. General McClellan carrying only 
the States of Kentucky, Delaware and New Jersey. In the summer pre- 
ceding the election the people of Nevada framed a constitution, in accord- 
ance with an act of Congress, and on the 31st of October the new common- 
wealth was proclaimed as the thirty-sixth State of the Union. The gold 
and silver mines of Nevada were developed with such rapidity that they 
soon surpassed those of California in their yield of the precious metals. 

At the outbreak of the civil war the financial credit of the United 
States had sunk to a very low ebb. By the organization of the army and 
navy the exjienses of the government were at once swelled to an enormous 
aggregate. The price of gold and silver advanced so raj)idly that the 
redemption of bank-notes in coin soon became impossible; and on the 
30th of December, 1861, the banks of New York, and afterward those of 
the whole country, suspended specie payments. Mr. Cha.se, the secretary 
of the treasury, first sought relief by issuing Treasury Notes, receivable 
as money and bearing seven and three-tenths per cent, interest. This 
expedient was temporarily successful, but by the beginning of 1862 the 
expenses of the government had risen to more than a million of dollars 
daily. 

To meet these tremendous demands other measures had to be 
adopted. Congress accordingly made haste to provide AN Internal 
liEVEXUE. This was made up from two general sources : first, a tax on 
manufactures, incomes and salaries; second, a stamp-duty on all legal 
documents. The next measure was the issuance by the treasury of a 
hundred and fifty millons of dollars in non-interest-bearing Legal 
Tender Notes of the United States, to be used as money. These are 
the notes called Greenbacks. The third great measure adopted by the 
government was the sale of United States Bonds. These were made 
redeemable at any time after five and under twenty years from date, and 
were from that fact called Five- Twenties. The interest upon them M-as 
fixed at six per cent., payable semi-annually in gold. Another important 
series of bonds, called Ten-Forties, was afterward issued, being redeem- 
able by the government at any time between ten and forty years from 
date. In the next place. Congress passed an act providing for the estab- 



542 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

lishment of Xationai. Banks. The private banks of the country had 
been obliged to suspend operations, and the people were greatly distressed 
for want of money. To meet this demand it was provided that new 
banks might be established, using national bonds, instead of gold and 
silver, as a basis of their circulation. The currency of these banks was 
furnished and the redemption of the same guaranteed by the treasury of 
the United States. By these measures the means for prosecuting the wai 
were provided. At the end of the conflict the national debt had reached 
the astounding sum of nearly three thousand millions of dollars. 

On the 4th of March, 1865, President Lincoln was inaugurated for 
his second term. A month afterward the military power of the Confed- 
eracy was broken. Three days after the evacuation of Richmond by Lee's 
army the President visited that city, conferred with the authorities, and then 
returned to Washington. On the evening of the 14th of April he attended 
Ford's theatre with his wife and a party of friends. As the play drew near 
its close a disreputable actor, named John Wilkes Booth, stole unnoticed 
into the President's box, leveled a pistol at his head, and shot him through 
the brain. Mr. Lincoln fell forward in his seat, was borne from the 
building, lingered in an unconscious state until the following morning, and 
died. It was the greatest tragedy of modern times — the most wicked^ 
atrocious and diabolical murder known in American history. The assassin 
leaped out of the box upon the stage, escaped into the darkness, and fled. 
At the same hour another murderer, named Lewis Payne Powell, burst 
into the bed-chamber of Secretary Seward, sprang upon the couch of the 
sick man, stabbed him nigh unto death, and made his escape into the 
night. The city was wild with alarm and excitement. It was clear that 
a plot had been made to assassinate the leading members of the govern- 
ment. Troops of cavalry and the police of Washington departed in all 
directions to hunt down the conspirators. On the 26th of April Booth 
was found concealed in a barn south of Fredericksburg. Refusing to 
surrender, he was shot by Sergeant Boston Corbett, and then dragged 
forth from the burning building to die. Powell was caught, convicted 
and banged. His fellow-conspirators, David E. Herrold and Geo. A. 
Atzerott, together with Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, at whose house the plot 
was formed, were also condemned and executed. Michael O'Laugh- 
lin, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, and Samuel Arnold were sentenced to im- 
prisonment for life, and Edward Spangler for a term of six years. 

So ended in darkness, but not in shame, the career of Abraham 
Lincoln. He was one of the most remarkable men of any age or country 
— a man in whom the qualities of genius and common sense were strangely 
mingled. He was prudent, far-sighted and resolute; thoughtful, calm 



THE CLOSING CONFLICTS. 543 

rnd just; patient, tender-hearted and great. The manner of his 
death consecrated his memory. From city to city, in one vast funeral 
procession, the mourning people followed his remains to their last 
resting-place at Springfield. From all nations rose the voice of sym- 
pathy and shame — sympathy for his death, shame for the dark crime 
4aat caused it. 

He h.id been born a destined work to do, 
And lived to do it ; four long-suffering years — 

Ill-fate, ill-feeling, ill-report lived through — 
And then he heard the hisses change to cheers, 

The taunts to tribute, the abuse to praise 

And took tliem both witli his unwavering mood; 

But as he came on light from darkest days, 

And seemed to touch the goal from where he stood, 

A felon hand, between that goal and him, 

Reached from behind his head, a trigger pre^t, 

And those perplexed and patient eyes were dim, 
Those gaunt long-laboring limbs were laid to rest! 

The words of mercy were upon his lips. 

Forgiveness in his heart and on his pen, 
When this vile murderer brought swift eclipse 

To thoughts of peace on earth, good-will to men. 

The Old World and the New, from sea to sea, 

Utter one voice of sympathy and shame! 
Sore heart, so stopped when it at last beat free, 

Sad life, cut short just as its triumph came ! 

A deed accurst ! Strokes have been struck before 

By the assassin's hand, whereof men doubt 
If more of horror or disgrace thev bore; 

But thy foul crime, like Cain's stands darkly out I 

Vile hand ! that branded murder on a strife, 

What e'er its grounds, stoutly and nobly striven, 

And with the martyr's crown crownest a life 
With' much to praise, little to be forgiven ! * 

•These verses are from the London Punch of May 6th, 1865. For years that paper 
had caricatured Mr. Lincoln and ridiculed the National government ; but now that 
the deed was done, the British heart reiicted and spoke out for humanity. 



544 HISTORY OF THE US IT ED STATES. 

CHAPTER LXVII. 

JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1865-1869. 

ON the day after the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, Andrew Johnson 
took the oath of office, and became President of the United States. 
He was a native of North Carolina, born in Raleigh, on the 29th of 
December, 1808. With no advantages of education, he passed his boy- 
hood in poverty and neglect. In 1826 he removed with his mother to 
Tennessee and settled at Greenville. Here he was married to an in- 
telligent lady who taught him to write and cipher. Here by dint of 
native talent, force of will, and strength of character, he first earned 
the applause of his fellow-men. Here, through toil and hardship, he 
rose to distinction, and after holding minor offices was elected to Con- 
gress. As a member of the United States Senate in 1860-61 he op- 
posed secession with all his zeal, even after the legislature had declared 
Tennessee out of the Union. On the 4th of March, 1862, he was ap- 
pointed military governor of that State, and entered upon his duties at 
Nashville. He began his administration and carried out his measures 
with all the vigor and vehemence of his nature. There was no quail- 
ing or spirit of compromise. His life was many times in peril; but he 
fed on danger and grew strong under the onsets of his enemies. He 
held the office of governor until 1864, when he was nominated for the 
vice-presidency in place of Mr. Hamlin. Now, by the tragic death 
of the President, he was suddenly called to assume the responsibili- 
ties of chief magistrate. In his first congressional message he fore- 
shadowed a policy of great severity towards the civil and military 
leaders of the overthrown Confederacy. 

On the 1st of February, 1865, Congress adopted an amendment to 
the Constitution by which slavery was abolished and forbidden in all the 
States and Territories of the Union. By tlie 18th of the following De- 
cember the amendment had been ratified by the legislatures of twenty- 
seven States, and was duly proclaimed as a part of the Constitution. The 
emancipation proclamation had been issued as a military measure ; now 
the doctrines and results of that instrument were recognized and incor- 
porated in the fundamental law of the land. 

On the 29tii of ]\Iay the Amnesty Proclamation was issued by 
President Johnson. By its provisions a general jiardon was extended to 
all persons — excejrt those specified in certain classes — who had ]iartieipated 
in the organization and defence of the Confederacv. Tlie condition of the 
pardon was that those receiving it should take an oath of allegiance to the 



JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 545 

United States. The excepted persons might also be pardoned on 
special application to the President. During the summer of 1865 
tlie great armies were disbanded, and the victors and vanquished re- 
turned to their homes to resume the work of peace. 

The finances of the nation were in an alarming condition. The war- 
debt went on increasing until the beginning of 1866, and it was only by 
the most herculean exertions that national bankruptcy could be warded 
off. The yearly interest on the debt had grown to a hundred and thirty- 
three million dollars in gold. The expenses of the government had 
reached the aggregate of two hundred millions of dollars annually. But 
the augmented revenues of the nation proved sufficient to meet these 
enormous outlays, and at last the debt began to be slowly diminished. 
On the 5th of December, 1865, a resolution was passed in the House of 
Representatives pledging the faith of the United States to the full pay- 
ment of the national indebtedness, both principal and interest. 

During the civil war the emperor Napoleon III. interfered in the 
affairs of INIexico, and succeeded, by overawing the people with a French 
army, in setting up an empire. In the early part of 1864 the crown of 
Mexico was conferred on Maximilian, the archduke of Austria, who 
established his government and sustained it with French and Austrian 
soldiers. But tlie Mexican president Juarez headed a revolution against 
the usurping emperor ; the government of the United States rebuked 
France for liaving violated the Monroe doctrine; Napoleon, becoming 
alarmed, withdrew his army ; and Maximilian was overthrown. Flying 
from Mexico to Queretaro, he was there besieged and taken prisoner. 
On the 13th of June, 1867, he was tried by court-martial and condemned 
to be shot ; and six days afterward the sentence was carried into execu- 
tion. The scheme of Napoleon, who had hoped to profit by the civil N\ar 
and gain a foothold in the New "NA'orld, was thus justly brought to shame 
and contempt. 

After a few weeks of successful operation the first Atlantic telegraph, 
laid by Mr. Field in 1858, had ceased to work. The friends of the enter- 
prise were greatly disheartened. Not so with Mr. Field, who continued 
both in Europe and America to advocate the claims of his measure and to 
plead for assistance. He made fifty voyages across the Atlantic, and 
finally secured sufficient capital to begin the laying of a second cable. 
The work began from the coast of Ireland in the summer of 1865. When 
the steamer Great Eastern had proceeded more than twelve hundred miles 
on her way to America, the cable parted and was lost. Mr. Field held on 
to his enterprise. Six millions of dollars had been spent in unsuccessful 
attempts, but still he persevered. In July of 1866 a third cable, two 
thousand miles in length, was coiled in the Great Eastern, and again the 



546 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

vessel started on her way. This time tlie work was completely suc- 
cessful. After twelve years of uiu'emitting eiFort Mr. Field received 
a gold medal from the Congress of his country, and tlic plaudits of 
all civilized nations. 

By an act of Congress, passed on the 1st of November, 1864,. 
THE Postal Money-Order System was established in the United 
States. The design of the measure was to secure a safe and conven- 
ient method of transferring small sums of money through the mails. 
The money-order is divided into two parts — the order proper and the 
advice. From the order, which is received and transmitted by the 
purchaser, the name of the payee is omitted. In the advice, which is 
sent by the post-master of the issuing office to the post-master of the 
paying office, the name of the payee is inserted. The advice and the 
order receive the same stamp and number, and being transmitted sep- 
arately, constitute an almost perfect check against loss, robbery, and 
fraud. The largest sum which may be transmitted in one order is 
fifty dollars, though larger amounts may be sent in separate orders. 
The amount charged for issuing is trifling, varying with the value of 
the order, and the security is perhaps as great as human sagacity can 
provide. Notwithstanding the invaluable benefits of the system, it 
was at first received with little favor. In 1870 there were two thou- 
sand and seventy-six post-offices from which money-orders were issued. 
During tiiat year tlie orders numbered a million six hundred and sev- 
enty-one tiidusand two luindred and filty-three; and tlie amount trans- 
mitted was above thirty-four millions of dollars. On the 1st of October, 
1875, tlie number of money-otfices in operation was three thousand six 
hundred and ninety-six ; the number of orders issued during the fiscal 
year ending on the 30th of June amounted to five millions six thou- 
sand three hundred and twenty-three; the amount of money sent to 
more than seventy-seven millions of dollars. Of all the orders issued 
during that year only twenty-seven were paid to persons not entitled 
to receive them. Such have been the advantages of the system as to 
require its extension to foreign lands. Postal conventions have al- 
ready been held and arrangements completed for the exchange of 
iiKiney-orders with Switzerland, Great Britain and Ireland and Ger- 
many. The requirements of civilization will no doubt soon demand 
a similar compact with every enlightened nation. 

The administration of President Johnson is noted as the time Avhen 
the Territories of the United States assumed their final form. The vast 
domains west of the ^Slississijipi were now reduced to proper limits and 
organized with a view to early admission into the Union as States. A 



23 Longin 




100 Ldngitud 



JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 547 

large part of the work was acconipli,shed during the administration of 
President Lincohi. In Marcli of 1861 the Territory of Dakota, Avith an 
area of a hundred and fifty thousand square miles, was detached from 
Nebraska on the north, and given a distinct territorial organization. In 
February of 18G3 Arizona, with an area of a hundred and thirteen thou- 
sand square miles, was separated from New Mexico on the west and 
organized as an independent Territory. On the 3d of Marcli in the same 
year Iilaho was organized out of portions of Dakota, Nebraska and Wash- 
ington Territories ; and on the 26th of May, 1864, Montana, with an area 
of a hundred and forty-six thousand square miles, was cut off from the 
eastern part of Idaho. By this measure the area of the latter Territory 
was reduced to eighty-six thousand square miles. On the 1st of March, 
1867, the Territory of Nebraska, reduced to its present area of seventy- 
si.x thousand miles, was admitted into the Union as the thirty-seventh 
State. Finally, on the 25th of July, 1868, the Territory of Wyoming, 
with an area of ninety-eight thousand square miles, was organized out of 
portions of Dakota, Idaho and Utah. Thus were the Territories of the 
great West reduced to their present limits as represented in the accom- 
panying map. 

The year 1867 was signalized by the Purchase op Alaska. 
Two years previously the territory had been explored by a corps of 
scientific men with a view of establishing telegraphic communication with 
Asia by way of Behring Strait. The report of the exploration showed 
that Alaska was by no means the wortliless country it had been supposed 
to be. It was found that the coast-fisheries were of very great value, and 
that the forests of white pine and yellow cedar were among the finest in 
lie world. Negotiations for the purchase of the peninsula were at once 
opened, and on the 30th of March, 1867, a treaty was concluded by Avhich, 
for the sum of seven million two hundred thousand dollars, Russia ceded 
Alaska to the United States. The territory thus added to the domains 
of the Republic embraced an area of five hundred and eighty thousand 
square miles, and a population of twent}'-nine thousand souls. 

Very soon after his accession to the chief magistracy a serious dis- 
agreement arose between the President and Congress. The difficulty 
grew out of the great question of reorganizing the Southern States. The 
particular point in dispute was as to the relation which those States had 
sustained to the Federal Union during the civil war. The President held 
that the ordinances of secession were in their very nature null and void, 
and that therefore the seceded States had never been out of the Union. 
The majority in Congress held that the acts of secession were illegal and 
unconstitutional, but that the seceded States had been b^' those acts 



548 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

actually detached iVoni tlie Union, and that special legislation and special 
guarantees were necessary in order to restore them to their former rela- 
tions under the government. Such Avas the real foundation of the diffi- 
culty by which the question of reconstructing the Southern States was so 
seriously embarrassed. 

In the summer of ISGo measures of reconstruction were begun by 
tlie President in accordance with his own views. On the 9th of May a 
proclamation was issued for tlie restoration of Virginia to the Union. 
Twenty days afterward another proclamation was issued establishing a 
provisional government over South Carolina; and at brief intervals 
similar measures were adopted in respect to the other States of the late 
Confederacy. On the 24th of June all restrictions on trade and inter- 
course with the Soutiiern States were removed by proclamation of the 
President. On the 7th of the following September a second amnesty 
proclamation was issued, by which all persons who had upheld the Con- 
federate cause — excepting the leaders — were unconditionally pardoned. 
]\Ieanwhile, the State of Tennessee had been reorganized, and in 18G6 
was restored to its place in the Union. Meanwhile, the national Con- 
gress was pursuing its own line of policy in regard to the reconstruc- 
tion of the Southern States. During the session of 1865-66, a com- 
iuittee of fifteen was appointed by that body to whom all matters 
appertaining to the reorganization of the States of the overthrown 
Confederacy should be referred. Soon afterwards the celebrated Civil 
Rights Bill was passed, the olyect of which was to secure to the 
freedmen of the South the full exercise of citizenship. The measure 
was opposed and vetoed by the President, but was immediately re- 
passed bv a two-thii'ds congressional majority. On the occasion of the 
celebration of Washington's birthday at the Capital, the bill was se- 
verely denounced by the President in a speech delivered in front of 
the executive mansion ; and the position assumed by Congress was de- 
clared to be a new rebellion against the government of the United 
States. In subsequent speeches and messages the same sentiment was 
reiterated, and the attitude of the executive and legislative departments 
became constantly more unfriendly. 

In the summer of 1866 a call was issued for a national conven- 
tion to be held in Philadelphia on the 14th of August. The objects 
had in view were not very clearly defined ; but it was understood that 
the general condition of the country would be considered, measures 
of national jiolicy discussed, and all the political elements, in opposi- 
tion to the majority in Congress be consolidated into a new political 
party, with which the President's name would be associated in leader- 



JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 549 

ship. At the appointed time delegates from all the States and terri- 
tories were present ; many members of the Repnblican jiarty took part 
in the movement, and the convention was not lacking in enthusiasm. 
Htill, the meeting exercised but very little permanent influence on the 
affairs of the country. 

Soon afterwai'ds the President made another effort to rally jiub- 
lic opinion in favor of his policy. In the latter part of August lie 
set out from Washington, accompanied by Secretaries Seward, Welles, 
and Randall, General Grant, Admiral Farragut, and other prominent 
officials, to make a tour of the Northern States. The ostensible ob- 
ject had in view was that the President should be present at the laying 
of the corner stone of a monument to Senator Douglas at Chicago. 
Departing from the Capital, the presidential party passed through Phil- 
adelphia, New York, and Albany, and after taking part in the cere- 
monies at Chicago, returned by way of St. Louis, Indianapolis, Louis- 
ville, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg. At all the principal towns and cities 
through which he passed, the President spoke freely to the crowds in 
defence of his own jwlicy and in denunciation of that of Congress. 
The whole journey was a scene of intense excitement and partisan ani- 
mosity. The general effect of the President's course was disastrous 
tf) him and his political adherents ; for in the elections of the follow- 
ing autumn the measures of Congress were sustained and the members 
reelected by increased popular majorities. Nevertheless, the result of 
the election had very little effect in altering the President's views or 
softening his feelings towards the legislative department of the gov- 
ernment. 

By degrees the affairs of the administration grew critical. When 
Congress convened in December of 1866 the policy of the President 
was severely condemned. The congressional committee, appointed at 
the session of the previous year, now brought forwai'd a report em- 
bodying a full plan of reorganizing the Southern States. After much 
discussion the measures proposed by the committee were adopted by 
Congress, and the work of reconstruction was begun. As the first 
condition for the reiidmission of a State into the Union it was enacted 
that the people of the same, by their legislative assembly or other- 
wise, should ratify the fourteenth amendment to the constitution which 
declaimed the citizenship of all persons born or naturalized in the 
United States. In furtherance of this policy Congress, at the same 
session, passed an act recpiiring that in the national territories the 
elective franchise should be granted without distinction of race or 
color, before such territories should be admitted into the Union. A 



550 UlSrORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

similar measure was adopted in respect to the District of Columbia, 
forbidding the further restriction of the right of suffrage to white 
men. To all of these acts President Johnson opposed his veto ; but 
in every case his objection was overcome by the two-thirds majority 
in Congress. 

Concerning the reorganization of the Southern States, the rca! 
question at issue was as to M'hether a civil or a military method of re- 
construction ought to be adopted. From the beginning, the President 
had urged the superiority of the civil process. But in Congress the 
opposite opinion prevailed, and the views of the majority were rather 
intensified by the hostility of the executive. On the 2d of March, 
1867, an act was passed by which the ten seceded States were divided 
into five military districts, each district to be under the control of a 
governor apjwinted by the President. After appointing the comman- 
ders required by this law, the chief magistrate asked the opinion of 
Mr. Stanbery, his attorney-general, as to the validity of the con- 
gressional measures of reconstruction. An answer was returned that 
most of the acts were null and void ; and the President accordingly 
issued to tlie military commanders an order which measurably nulli- 
fied the whole proceeding. But Congress passed a supplemental act 
declaring the meaning of the previous law, and the process of reor- 
ganization was continued under tlie congressional plan. The work, 
however, was greatly retarded by the distracted counsels of the gov- 
ernment and the chaotic condition of affairs in the South. But in due 
time the States of Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, 
North Carolina, and South Carolina were reconstructed, and in the 
months of June and July, 1.S68, readmitted into the Union. In every 
case, howevei", the readmission was effected against the protest, and 
over the veto of the President. 

In the nu'an time, a difficulty had arisen in the President's cabinet 
which led to his imjteachment. On the 21st of February, 18(i8, he noti- 
fied Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war, of his dismissal from office. 
The .act was regarded by Congress as a usurpation of authority and a 
violation of law on the part of the President. The reconstruction diffi- 
culties had already broken off all friendly relations between the two 
Houses and the executive. Accordingly, on the 3d of !March, articles of 
impeachment were agreed to by the House of Representatives, in ac- 
cordance with the forms of the Constitution, and the cause was im- 
mediately remanded to the Senate for trial. Proceedings began 
before that body on the 23d of March and continued until the 26th 
of May, when the President was acquitted. But his escape was 



JOHNSON S ADMINISTRA 2 ION. 



551 



very narrow; a two-thirds majority was required to convict, and 
but one vote ivas warning. Chief-Justice Salmon P. Chase, one of the 
most eminent of American statesmen and jurists, presided over thia 
remarkable trial. 

The time for 
holding another presi- 
dential election was 
al ready at hand. 
General Ulysses S. 
Grant was nomina- 
ted by the Republi- 
cans, and Horatio 
Seymour of New 
York by the Demo- 
crats. The canvass 
was attended w i t h 
great excitement. 
The people were still 
agitated by the recent 
strife through which 
the nation had passed, 
and the questions 
most discusse<l by the 
political speakers were 
those arising out of 
the civil war. The 

principles advocated by the majority in Congress furnished the basis of 
the Republican platform of 1868, and on that platform General Grant 
was chosen by a very large electoral majority. The votes of twenty- 
six States, amounting, in the aggregate, to two hundred and fourteen 
ballots, were cast in his favor, while his competitor received only 
the eighty votes of the remaining eleven States. Of the pojmlar vote, 
however, Mr. Seymour obtained two million seven hundred and three 
thousand six hundred, against three million thirteen thousand one 
hundred and eighty-eight given to General Grant. At the same elec- 
tion, the choice for the vice-presidency fell on Schuyler Colfax of 
Indiana. 




CHIEF-JUSTICE CHASE. 



552 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER LXVIII. 
GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION, 1SG9-1877. 

ULYSSES S. GRANT, eighteenth President of tlie United States, is 
a native of ( )hio, l^orn at Point Pleasant, in tliat State, Ajji-il 27th, 
1S22. At the age of seventeen lie entered the United States Military 
Academy at AVest Point, and v.'a-, graduated in 184:3. lie served with 

distinction and was 
promoted for gallantry 
in the Mexican war; 
but his first national 
reputation was won by 
the cajitnre of Forts 
Henry and Donel- 
son in 18 02. Froni 
that time he rapidly 
rose in rank, and in 
March, 1864, received 
the appointment of 
lieutenant-general and 
commander-i n-ch i ef 
of the Union army. 
His subsequent career 
at the liead of that 
army has already been 
narrated. At the 
close of the war his 
reputation, though 
strictly military, was 
PRESIDENT GRANT. vcrv grcat ; and his 

being involved in 
tile imbroglio between President Johnson and Congress rather height- 
ened than diminished the estimation in which he was held by the 
people of the North. Before the Republican convention, held at 
Chicago on the 21st of May, 1868, he had no comjietitor, and was 
unanimously nominated on the tirst ballot. On the day following his 
inauguration as President, he sent in to the Senate the following 




GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 553 

nominations for cabinet officers : For secretary of state, Elihu B. 
Washburne of Illinois; for secretary of the treasury, Alexander T. 
Stewart of Xew York ; for secretary of the interior, Jacob D. Cox of 
Ohio; for secretary of the navy, Adolph E. Borie of Pennsylvania; 
for secretary of war, Jolm M. Schofield of Illinois ; for postmaster- 
general, John A. J. Creswell of Maryland; for attorney-general, E. 
R. Hoar of Massachusetts. These nominations were at once con- 
firmed ; but it was soon discovered that Mr. Stewart, being engaged 
in commerce, was ineligible, and George S. Boutwell of Massachu- 
setts was appointed in his stead. Mr. Washburne also gave up his 
office to accept the position of minister to France ; and the vacant 
secretaryship was given to Hamilton Fish of New York. 

The first event by which the new administration was signalized 
was the completion of the Pacific Railroad. This vast enterprise was 
projected as early as 1853; but ten years elapsed before the Avork of 
construction was actually begun. The first division of the road ex- 
tended from Omaha, Nebraska, to Ogden, Utah, a distance of a thou- 
sand and tliirty-two miles. The western division, called the Central 
Pacific Railroad, reached from Ogden to San Francisco, a distance of 
eiglit hundred and eighty-two miles. On the 10th of May, 1869, the 
great work was completed with appro]iriate ceremonies. 

Before the inauguration of President Grant two additional amend- 
ments to the Constitution had l)een adopted by Congress. The first of 
these, known as the Fourteenth Amendment, extended the right of citi- 
zenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and de- 
clared the validity of the public debt. This amendment was submitted 
in 1867, was ratified by three-fourths of the States, and in the following 
year became a part of the Constitution. A few weeks before the expiration 
of Mr. Johnson's term the Fifteenth Amendment was adopted by Congress, 
providing tliat the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not 
be denied or abridged on account of race, color or previous condition of 
servitude. This clause, whicli was intended to confer the right of suffi-age 
on the emancipated black men of the South, was also submitted to tiie 
States, received the sanction of three-fourths of the legislatures, and on 
the 30th of Man^h, 1870, was proclaimed by the President as a part of 
the Constitution. 

In the autumn of 1869 occurred the most extraordinary mone- 
tary excitement ever known in the United States, or })erhaps in the 
world. A company of unscrupulous speculators in New York city, 
headed by Jay Gould and James Fisk, jr., succeeded in producing 
what is known as a "corner" in the gold market and Ijrounht the 



554 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

business interests of the metropolis to the verge of ruin. During tlie 
civil war the credit of the government had declined to such an extent 
that at one time a dollar in gold was worth two hundred and eighty- 
six cents in pajjer currency. But after the restoration of the national 
authority the value of paper money appreciated, and in the fall of 
1869 the ratio of gold to the greenback dollar had fallen to about one 
hundred and thirty to one hundred. There were at this time, in the 
banks of New York, fifteen million dollars in gold coin and in the 
sub-treasury of the United States a hundred millions more. The plan 
of Gould and Fisk was to get control by purchase of the greater part 
of the fifteen millions, to prevent the secretary of the treasury from 
selling any part of the hundred millions under his authority, then — 
having control of the market — to advance the price of gold to a fab- 
ulous fiy;ure, sell out all which thev held tliemselves, and retire from 
the field of slaughtered fortunes with tluir aeeuniulated millii)ns "f 
spoils! Having carefully arranged all the preliminaries, the conspir- 
ators, on the 13th of September, began their work of purchasing gold, 
at the same time constantly advancing the price. By the 22d of the 
month, they had succeeded in putting nj) the rate to a hundred and 
fiirty. On the next day the price rose to a hundred and torty-four. 
The members of the conspiracy now boldly avowed their determina- 
tion to advance the rate to two hundred, and it seemed that on the 
morrow they would put their threat into execution. On the morning 
of the 24t]i, known as Black Friday, the bidding in the gold-room 
began with inten.se excitement. The brokers of Fisk and Gould ad- 
vanced the price to a hundred and fifty, a hundred and fifty-five, and 
finally to a hundred and sixty, at which figure they were obliged to 
purchase several millions by a company of merchants who had banded 
them.selves together witli the determination to fight the gold-gandjlers 
to the last. Just at this moment came a despatch that Secretary Bout- 
well had ordered a sale of four millions from the sub-treasury ! Tliere 
was an instantaneous panic. The price of gold went down twenty 
per cent, in less than as many minutes ! The speculators were blown 
away in an uproar; but they managed, by accumulated frauds and 
corruptions, Vo farvif off with them more than eleven million dollars as 
the fruits of their nefarious game! Several months elapsed before the 
business of the country recovered from the effects of the shock. 

In the first three months of 1870 the work of reorganizing the 
Southern States was completed. On the 24th of January the senators 
aiKl representatives of Virginia were formally readmitted to their seats in 
Congress, and the Old Dominion once more took her place in the Union. 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 555 

On the 23d of February a like action was taken in regard to Mississippi; 
and on the 30th of March the work was finished by the I'eadmission of 
Texas, the last of the seceded States. For the fii-st time since the outbreak 
of the civil war the voice of all the States was heard in the councils of 
the nation. 

In this year was completed the ninth census of the United States. 
It was a work of vast importance, and the results presented were of the 
most encouraging character. Notwithstanding the ravages of war, the 
last decade had been a period of wonderful growth and progress. During 
that time the population had increased from thirty-one million four hun- 
dred and forty-three thousand to thirty-eight million five hundred and 
eighty-seven thousand souls. The centre of population had now moved 
westward into the great State of Ohio, and rested at a point fifty miles 
east of Cincinnati. The national debt, though still enormous, was rapidly 
falling off. The products of the United States had grown to a vast 
aggregate ; even the cotton crop of the South was regaining much of its 
former importance. American manufactures were competing with those 
of England in the markets of the world. The Union now embraced 
thirty-seven States and eleven Territories.* From the narrow limits of 
the thirteen original colonies, with their four hundred and twenty-one 
thousand square miles of territory, the national domain had spread to the 
vast area of three million six hundred and four thousand square miles. 
Few things, indeed, have been more marvelous than the territorial gro\^th 
of the United States. The purchase of Louisiana more than doubled tiie 
geographical area of the nation ; the several Mexican acquisitions were 
only second in importance; while the recent Russian cession alone was 
greater in exteHt than the original thirteen States. The nature of this 
territorial development will be best understood from an examination of 
the accompanying map. 

In January of 1871 President Grant appointed Senator Wade of 
Ohio, Professor White of New York and Dr. Samuel Howe of Massa- 
chusetts as a board of commissioners to visit Santo Domingo and report 
upon the desirability of annexing that island to the United States. The 
question of annexation had been agitated for several years, and the 
measure was earnestly favored by the President. After three months 
spent abroad, the commissioners retui'ned and reported in favor of the 
proposed annexation ; but the proposal was met with violent opposition 
in Congress, and defeated. 

The claim of the United States against the British government for 
damages done to American commerce i)y Confederate cruisers during the 

* Including the Indian Territorv and Alaska. 



556 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 

civil war still remained unsettled. These cruisers had been l)iiilt and 
equipped in English ports and with the knowledge of the English gov- 
ernment. Such a proceeding was in plain violation of the law of nations, 
even if the independence of the Confederate States had been recognized. 
Time and again Mr. Seward I'emonstrated with the British authorities, 
but without effect. After the war Great Britain became alarmed at her 
own conduct, and grew anxious for a settlement of the difficulty. On 
the 27th of February, 1871, a joint high commission, composed of five 
British and five American statesmen, assembled at Washington city. 
Fi'om the fact that the cruiser Alabama had done most of the injury 
complained of, the claims of the United States were called the Alabajia 
Claims. After much discussion, the commissioners framed a treaty, 
known as the Treaty of Washington, by which it was agreed that all 
claims of either nation against the other sliould be submitted to a board 
of arbitration to be appointed by friendly nations. Such a court w:us 
formed, and in the summer of 1872 convened at Geneva, Switzerhmd. 
The cause of the two nations Mas imjKirtially heard, and on the 14th of 
September decided in favor of the United States. Great Britain M'a.s 
obliged, for the wrongs wliicii she had done, to pay into the Federal 
treasury fifteen million five hundred thousand dollars. 

During the year 1871, there were laid and put into operation in 
the United States no less than seven thousand six hundred and seventy 
miles of railfoad, I There is perhaps no fact in the history of the 
world which exhibits so marvelous a development of the physical 
resources of a nation. Ere the mutterings of the civil war, with its 
imtold destruction of life and treasure, had died away in the distance, 
the recuperative power, enterprise, and genius of the American peo- 
ple were revealed, as never before, in establishing and extending the 
lines of travel and commerce. In 1830 there were but twenty-three 
miles of railway track in' the New World. In 1840 the lines in the 
United States had been extended to two thousand eight Inuulred and 
eigliteen miles. Ten yeai's later there were nine thousand and twenty- 
one miles of track. According to the reports for 1860, the railroads 
of the country had reached the enormous extent of thirty thousand 
six hundred and thirty-five miles; and in the next ten years, embrac- 
ing the period of the civil war, the amount was nearly doubled. Such 
is the triumphant power of free institutions — tlie victory of free enter- 
prise, free industry, free thought. There stands the fact ! Let the 
adherents of the Old World's methods, the eulogists of the past, take 
it and read it. Wherever the human race pants for a larger activity, 
a more glorious exercise of its energies, let the story be told how the 




100 Longitiic 



\S from WashmgtoQ 13 




9^ from Oieeuwicli 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 557 

United States, just emerged from the furnace of war, smarting with 
wounds, and burdened with an enormous debt, built in a single year 
more than twice as many miles of railroad as Spain, ridden with her 
precedents of kingcraft and priestcraft, has ever built in her whole 
career. 

The year 1871 is noted in American history for the burning of 
C'iiicago. On the evening of the 8th of October a fire broke out in De 
Koven street, and was driven by a high wind into the lumber-yards and 
wooden houses of the neighborhood. The flames leaped the South Branch 
of the Chicago River and sj)read with great j'apidity through the business 
parts of the city. All day long tlie deluge of fire rolled on, crossed the 
main channel of the river, and swept into a blackened ruin the whole dis- 
trict between the North Branch and the lake as far northward as Lincoln 
Park. The area burned over was two thousand one hundred acres, or 
three and a third square miles. Nearly two hundred lives were lost in 
the conflagration, and the property destroyed amounted to about two 
hundred millions of dollars. No such a terrible devastation had been 
witnessed since the burning of Moscow in 1812. In the extent of the 
district burned over, the Chicago fire stands first, in the amount of 
property destroyed second, and in the suffering occasioned third, among 
the great conflagrations of the world. 

On the 21st of October, 1872, was settled the only remaining 
dispute concerning the boundaries of the United States. By the terms 
of the treaty of 1846 it was stipulated that the North-western bound- 
ary line, running westward along the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, 
should extend to the middle of the channel which separates the con- 
tinent from Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly through the mid- 
dle of said channel and of Fuca's Straits to the Pacific. But what was 
" the middle of said channel " ? for there were several channels. The 
British government claimed the Straits of Rosario to be the true line 
intended by the treaty, while the United States would have the Canal 
de Haro. So the question stood for a quarter of a century, and was 
then referred for settlement to the arbitration of William I., Em- 
peror of Germany. That monarch heard the cause, decided in favor 
of the United States, and the Canal de Haro became the international 
boundary. 

As the first official term of President Grant drew to a close the 
political parties made ready for the twenty-second presidential election. 
Many parts of the chief magistrate's policy had been made the subjects of 
criticism and controversy. The congressional plan of reconstructing the 
Southern States had prevailed, and with that plan the President was in 



558 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



accord. But the reconstruction measures had been unfavorably re- 
ceived in the Soutli. Tlie elevation of the negro race to the full rights 
of citizenship was regarded with a]i]M-ehcnsion. Owing to the disor- 
ganization of civil government in the Southern States, an opportunity 
was given in certain districts for bad men to band themselves togethei 

in lawlessness. The 
military spirit was 
still rife in the coun- 
try, and the issues 
of the civil war were 
rediscussed, some- 
times w i t h m u c h 
bitterness. On these 
issues the people di- 
vided in the election 
of 1872. The Re- 
})ublicans re nomi- 
nated General Grant 
for the presidency. 
For the vice-presi- 
dency Mr. Colfax 
declined a renomi- 
nation, and was suc- 
ceeded by H e n r y 
Wilson of Massa- 
chusetts. As the 
standard ^ bearer of 
the Liberal Republican and Democratic parties Horace Greeley, ed- 
itor of the New York Trlbunv, was nominated. This was the last act 
in that remarkable man's career. For more than thirty years he had 
been an acknowledged leader of public opinion in America. He had 
discussed witli vehement energy and enthusiasm almost every question 
in which the people of the United States have any interest. After a 
lifetime of untiring industry he was now, at the age of sixty-one, 
called to the forefront of political strife. The canvass was one of 
wild excitement and bitter denunciations. Mr. Greeley was over- 
whelmingly beaten, and died in less than a montli after the election. 
In his death the nation lost a great philanthropist and journalism its 
brightest light. 

A few days after the presidential election the city of Boston was 
visited by a conflagration only second in its ravages to that of Chicago 




HORACE OREEI.EY. 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 559 

in the previous year. On the evening of the 9th of November a fire 
broke out on the corner of Kingston and Summer streets, spread to 
the north-east, and continued with almost unabated fury until the 
morning of the 11th. The best portion of the city, embracing some 
of* the finest blocks in the United States, was laid in ashes. The 
burnt district covered an area of sixty-five acres. Eight hundred 
buildings, property to the value of eighty million dollars, and fifteen 
lives wei'e lost by the conflagration. 

In the spring of 1872 an order had been issued to Superintendent 
Odeneal to remove the IModoc Indians from their lands on the soutliorn 
shore of Lake Klamath, Oregon, to a new reservation. The Indians, who 
had been greatly mistreated by former agents of the government, refused 
to go ; and in the following November a body of troops was sent to force 
them into compliance. The Modocs resisted, kept uj) the war during the 
winter, and then retreated into an almost inaccessible volcanic region 
called the lava-beds. Here, in the spring of 1873, tlie Indians were sur- 
rounded, but not subdued. On the 11th of April a conference was held 
between them and six members of the peace commission ; but in the 
midst of the council the treacherous savages rose upon the kind-hearted 
men who sat beside them and murdered General Canby and Dr. Thomas 
in cold blood. Mr. Meacham, another member of the commission, was 
shot and stabbed, but escaped with his life. The Modocs were then be- 
sieged and bombarded in their stronghold; but it was the 1st of June 
before General Davis with a Ibrce of regulars cf)uld compel Gaptain Jack 
and his murderous band to surrender. The chiefs were tried by court- 
martial and executed in tlie following October. 

In the early j)art of 1873 a difficulty arose in Louisiana which 
threatened the peace of the country. Owing to the existence of double 
election-boards two sets of presidential electors had been chosen in the 
previous autumn. At the same time two governors — William P. Kellogg 
and John IMcEnery — were elected ; and rival legislatures were also re- 
turned by the liostile boards. Two State governments were accordingly 
organized, and for a while the commonwealth was in a condition border- 
ing on anarchy. The dispute was referred to the Federal government, 
and the President decided in favor of Governor Kellogg and his party. 
The rival government was accordingly disbanded ; but on the 14th of 
September, 1874, a large party, opposed to the administration of Kellogg 
and led by D. B. Penn, who had been returned as lieutenant-governor 
with McEnery, rose in arms and took possession of the State-house. 
Governor Kellogg fled to the custom-house and appealed to the President 
for lielp. The latter immediately ordered the adherents of Penn to dis- 



560 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

perse, and a body of national troops was sent to New Orleans to enforce 
the proclamation. On tlie assembling of the legislature in the following 
December the difficulty broke out more violently than ever, and the sol- 
diery Avas again called in to settle the dispute. 

About the beginning of President Grant's second term, the country 
Mas greatly agitated by what wa.s known as the Credit Mobilier 
Investigation in Congress. The Credit Mobilier of America was a 
joint stock company organized in 1863 for the jiurpose of facilitating the 
construction of public works. In 1867 anotlier company which had 
undertaken to build the Pacific Railroad ])urchased the charter of the 
Credit JNIobilicr, and the capital was increased to three million seven 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Owing to the profitableness of the 
M'ork in which the company was engaged, the stock rose rapidly in value 
and enormous dividends were paid to the shareholders. In 1872 a law- 
suit in Pennsylvania developed the startling fact that much of the stock 
of the Credit Mobilier was owned by members of Congress. A suspicion 
that those members had voted corruptly in the legislation affecting the 
Pacific Railroad at once seized the jiublic mind and led to a congressional 
investigation, iu the course of which many scandalous transactions were 
brought to light, and the faith of the peoj^le in the integrity of their 
servants greatly shaken. 

In the autumn of 1873 occurred one of the most disastrous finan- 
cial panics known in the history of the United States. The alarm 
was given by the failure i>f the great banking-house of Jay Cooke & 
Company of Philadelphia. Other failures followed in rapid succes- 
sion. Depositors everywhere hurried to the banks and withdrew their 
money and securities. Business was suddenly paralyzed, and many 
months elapsed before confidence was sufficiently restored to enable 
merchants and bankers to engage in the usual transactions of trade. 
The primary cause of the panic was the fluctuation in the volume and 
value of the national currency. Out of this had arisen a wild spirit 
of speculation which sapped the foundations of lousiness, destroyed 
financial confidence, and ended in disaster. 

Not the least of the evil results of the great monetary distnrl)- 
ance was the cheek given to the Northern Pacific Raii>road. 
As early as 1864 a company had been organized under a congressional 
charter to construct a railway from Lake Superior to Pugct Sound. 
The work also contemplated the running of a branch road, two hun- 
dred miles in length, down the valley of the Columbia River to Port- 
land, Oregon. Large subsidies were granted to the company by Con- 
gress, and other favorable legislation was expected. In 1870 the work 



GBA^T'S ADMINISTRATION. 561 

of construction was begun and carried westward from Duluth, Miuue- 
soiii. Jay Cooke's banlving-iiouse made heavy loans to the company, 
accepting as security the bonds of the road; for it was confidently 
expected that such legislation would be obtained as should secure the 
success of the enterprise and bring the bonds to par. In this condi- 
tion of affairs the Credit Mobilier scandal was blown before the coun- 
try; and no Congress would have dared to vote further subsidies to 
a railroad enterprise. Jay Cooke's securities became comparatively 
worthless ; then followed the failures and the panic. The work of 
constructing the road was arrested by the financial distress of the 
country, and has since been pushed forward but slowly and with great 
difficulty. In 1875 the section of four hundred and fifty miles, ex- 
tending from Duluth to Bismarck, Dakota, had been put in opera- 
tion; and another section, a hundred and five miles in length, between 
Kalama and Tacoma, in Washington Territory, had also been com- 
pleted. Meanwiiile, the attention of the country was turned to the 
Texas and Pacific line, which had been projected from Shreveport, 
Louisiana, and Texarkana, Arkansas, by way of El Paso to San Diego, 
California — a distance from Shreveport of a thousand five hundred 
and fourteen miles. In 1875 the main line iiad been carried west- 
ward a hundred and eighty-nine miles to Dallas, Texas, while the line 
from Texarkana had progressed seventy-five miles towards El Paso. 

On the 4th of March, 1875, the Territory of Colorado was au- 
thorized by Congress to form a State constitution. On the 1st of 
July, in the following year, tiie instrument thus provided for, was 
ratified by the people ; a month later, the President issued his proc- 
lamation, and " the Centennial State " took her place in the Union. 
The new commonwealth embraced an area of a hundred and four 
thousand five hundred square miles, and a population of forty-two 
thousand souls. Public attention was directed to the territory by the 
discovery of gold, in the year 1852. Silver was discovered about the 
same time, and in the winter of 1858-9, the first colony of miners 
was established on Clear Creek and in Gilpin County. The entire 
yield of gold up to the time of the admission of the State was esti- 
mated at more than seventy millions of dollars. Until 1859, Colo- 
rado constituted a part of Kansas ; but in that year a convention 
was held at Denver, and in 1861 a distinct territorial organization 
was effected. Since 1870, immigration has been rapid and constant. 

The last years of the history of the Republic have been noted 
for the number of public men who have fallen by the hand of death. 
In December of 18G9, Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war under 

36 



562 



HISTORY OF THE LJyiTED STATES. 



President Lincoln, and more recently justice of the supreme court of the 
United States, died. In 1870 General Robert E. Lee, president of 
AVashington and Lee University, General George H. Thomas and Ad- 
miral Farragut passed away. In 1872 William H. Seward, Professor 
Morse, Horace Greeley and General Meade were all called from the 

scene of their earth- 
ly labors. On the 
7th of May, 1873, 
Chief-Justice Chase 
fell under a stroke 
of paralysis at the 
home of his daugh- 
ter in Xew York 
City; and on the 
11th of March in 
the following year. 
Senator Charles 
Sumner of Massa- 
chusetts died at 
Washington. He 
was a native of Bos- 
ton ; born in 1811 ; 
liberally educated at 
Harvard College. 
At the age of thir- 
ty-five he entered 
the arena of public 
life, and in 1850 succeeded Daniel Webster in the Senate of the 
United States. This position he retained until the time of his death, 
speaking much and powerfully on all the great questions that agitated 
the nation. His last days were spent in considering the interests 
and welfare of that country to whose service he had given the life- 
long energies of his genius. On the 22d of November, 1875, Vice- 
President Henry "Wilson, whose health had been gradually failing 
since his inauguration, sank under a stroke of paralysis and died at 
Washington city. Like Roger Sherman, he had risen from the shoe- 
maker's bench to the highest honors of his country. Without the 
learning of Seward and Sumner — without the diplomatic skill of the 
one or the oratorical fame of the other — he nevertheless possessed 
those great abilities and sterling merits which will trajismit his name 
to after times on the roll of patriot statesmen. 




(TIAKLER SrVNER. 



ORA^^T'S ADMINISTRATION. 



563 



As the Centennial of American Independence drew near, the 
people made ready to celebrate the great event with appropriate 
ceremonies. A hundred years of national prosperity — though not 
unclouded by ominous shadows and not unhurt by the devastations 




INDEPENDENCE HALL, 1S76. 



jf war — had swept away, and at last the dawn of the centennial 
aiorning was rising in the eastern sky. It was not to be supposed 
that the thoughtful and patriotic of the land would allow so lustrous 
&n epoch to go by without impressing upon the jjresent generation tha 



564 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

lesson of tlie past and the hope of the futiu-e. As early as 1866, a 
proposition was made by Professor John L. Campbell of "Wabash 
College, that steps should be taken looking to the proper celebration 
of the great national anniversary. Al)out the same time the question 
of an international exhibition in honor of our independence, was 
agitated by the Honorable John Bigelow, a former minister of the 
United States to France. A correspondence was soon afterward 
begun and carried on by the Honorable INIorton McMichael, Mayor 
of Philadelphia, Senator Henry S. Lane of Indiana, M. R. Muckle of 
Pennsylvania, and General Charles B. Norton, who had served as a 
commissioner of the United States at the Exposition Internationalr of 
1867. To these men, more than to others perhaps, must be awarded 
the honor of having originated the Centennial Exposition. But it is 
hardly to be supposed tiiat the American people would have failed, 
from the want of leaders or any other circumstance, to mark with an 
imposing display the hundredth year of the Republic. 

Such was the origin of the movement ; but the development of 
the project was discouraged for a while with considerable opposition 
and much lukewarmness. The whole scheme was a vision of enthu- 
siasm, a Quixotical dream, — said the critics and objectors. No such 
an euterjjrise could be carried through except under the patronage of 
the Government, and the Government had no right to make appi'opri- 
ations merely to preserve an old reminiscence. We had had enough 
of the Fourtii of July already. Besides, — said the wits and caricatur- 
ists, — the other nations would present a ludicrous figure in helping us 
to celebrate the anniversary of a rebellion which they had tried to 
crush a hundred j'ears ago. Victoria was expected — so said they — 
to .send over commissioners to heap contumely and contempt on the 
gi'ave of her grandfather ! No nation of Europe would consent to its 
own stultification by joining in the jubilee of republicanism. Besides 
all this caviling, it was foreseen that Philadelphia would quite 
certainly be selected as the scene of the proposed display, and on 
that account a good deal of local jealousy was excited in the other 
principal cities of the Union. Nevertheless, the advocates of the 
enterprise continued to urge the feasibility and propriety of the 
exposition ; the more enlightened newspapers of the country lent 
their influence, and the popular voice .soon declared in favor of the 
measure. 

As early as the beginning of 1870, the general plan and princi- 
pal features of the celebration had been determined in the minds of 
its projectors. As to the form of the display, an International Expo- 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 565 

sition of Arts and Industries was decided on ; as to the scene, the city 
of Philadelphia, hallowed by a thousand Revolutionary memories, 
was selected; as to the time, from the 19th of April to the 19th of 
October, 1876. The lirst organized body to give aid and encourage- 
ment to the enterprise was the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. 
Through the influence of that patriotic organization, a Centennial 
Commission, consisting of seven members appointed by the city 
council, was constituted, with John L. Shoemaker as chairman. 
Shortly afterwards a resolution was adopted by the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania, invoking the aid of Congress in behalf of the proposed 
celebration ; and on the 3d of March, 1871, a bill was passed by the 
House of Representatives, which became the basis of all subsequent 
proceedings relating to the Centennial. 

In this bill it was provided that an exhibition of American and 
Foreign arts, products and manufactures should be held under the 
auspices of the Government of the United States, in the city of Phil- 
adelphia, in 1876; that a Centennial Commission, consisting of one 
member and one alternate from each State and Territory, should be 
appointed by the President; that to this board of commissioners should 
be referred the entire management and responsibility of the enter- 
prise ; that the members of the board should receive no compensa- 
tion ; that the United States should not be liable for any of the 
expenses of the exposition ; and that the President, when officially 
informed that suitable buildings had been erected and adequate pro- 
visions made for the proposed exhibition, should make proclamation 
of that fact to the people of the United States and to all foreign 
nations. Daring the year 1871, the Centennial Commission was con- 
stituted in accordance with the act of Congress. On the 4th of March, 
1872, the members assembled at Philadelphia and effected a perma- 
nent organization by the election of General Joseph R. Hawley of 
Connecticut as President. Orestes Cleveland of New Jersey, John D. 
Creigh of California, Robert Lowry of Iowa, Robert Mallory of Ken- 
tucky, Thomas H. Coldwell of Tennessee, John McNeill of Missouri, 
and William Gurney of South Carolina, were chosen as the seven vice- 
presidents of the organization. As secretary, Professor John L. Camp- 
bell of Indiana was elected. The important office of director-general 
was conferred on Alfred T. Gosliorn of Ohio ; and as counselor and 
solicitor John L. Shoemaker of Pennsylvania was chosen. 

The question of money next engaged the attention of the man- 
agers. How to provide the funds necessary for carrying forward so 
vast an enterprise became a source of much discussion and no little 



566 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



anxiet}'. The positive refusal of the govermneiit to heeonie respon- 
sible for any part of the expenses of the Exhibition added to tlie em- 
barrassmcnt ; for it was now seen that ])rivate resources and the good 
will of the people must furnish the entire sum necessary for the suc- 
cess of the enterprise. Several measures were accordingly adopted 

by the Centennial Commis 
sion looking to the creation 
of a treasury. By an act of 
Congress, passed on the 1st 
of June, 1872, provision was 
made for the organization ol 
a Centennial Board of Fi- 
nance, to which the whole 
monetary management ol 
the Exposition should be 
entrusted. This board was 
organized by the election 
of John Welsh of Philadel- 
phia as president. William 
Sellers and John S. Barbour 
were chosen vice-presidents. 
The office of secretary and 
treasurer was conferred on 
Frederick Fraley ; that of 
auditor, on H. S. Lansing; 
and that of financial agent, on M'illiam Bigler. The board was au- 
thorized to issue stock in shares of ten dollars each, the whole num- 
ber of shares thus issued not to exceed one million. It was also pro- 
vided that a series of Centennial Memorial Medals should be struck at 
the mint of the United States, and that the sale of such medals should 
be under the exclusive control of the Board of Finance. The medals 
were elegantly executed in several styles and sizes — of gilt, silver, and 
bronze — furnishing for after ages an impressive token of the American 
Republic in its hundredth year. 

Careful estimates, made by the Centennial Commission and the 
Board of Finance, jdaced the entire expense of the Exposition at e'u/ht 
million five hundred tliousand dollars. Of this sum about two and a 
half millions were raised by the sale of stock — a work whicii was at 
first entrusted to the banks of the country and afterward to a Bureau 
of Revenue established for that ])urj)ose. Long before this amount 
was secured, however, the legislature of Pennsylvania made a glorious 




GENERAL .TOSKI'H P.. HAWI.ET. 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 



567 



record for that State by appropriating one million dollars for the 
Exhibition. The " City of Brotherly Love " did better still by voting 
the sum of one million five hundred thousand dollars. The people 
of New York City made a contribution of a quarter of a million. 
The State of New Jersey gave a hundred thousand dollars; New 




CENTENNIAL MEDAL.— OBVERSE. 



CENTENNIAL MEDAL.— REVERSE. 



Hampshire, Connecticut, and Delaware, ten thousand dollars each. 
But notwithstanding these magnificent contributions, the aggregate 
iwm. fell far short of the estimates; and the Centennial Commission — 
»n the face of the former illiberal action of Congress — resolved to 
Tiake a second appeal to that body for help. A bill was accordingly 
prepared, asking for an appropriation of three million dollars from 
the national treasury; but on the 6th of May, 1874, the bill was 
decisively defeated — an act well calculated to bring the American 
name into contempt and shame.* The managers of the Exposition 
were again thrown back upon the people for sympathy and aid. 

Meanwhile, the sale of stock and of medals, as well as other 
enterprises for the increase of the Centennial funds, was going on 
successfully. The Exposition gained constantly in public favor. 
Even in the Far West, Centennial orators traveled through the 
country districts, stirring up the enthusiasm of the people. The 
public Free Schools, by exhibitions and excursions, contributed their 
part towards the success of the great celebration. In June of 1874, 

* After times may be astonished to know tliat the empire of Japan cheerfully 
contributed .six ^undred thou.iand dollars lo the success of the American CentenHial 
after the Congresa or the United States had twice refused to vote a cent. 



568 HISTORY OF THE IJXITEB STATES. 

the President of the United States extended a cordial invitation to 
all tlie civilized nations of tlie world to participate in an Interna- 
tional Exhibition of Arts, Mannfaetures, and Prodncts of the Soil 
and Mine, to be held in tlie city of Philadelphia in 1876, in honor 
of the one hundredth anniversary of American Independence. By 
and by, the contagion spread even to Congress, and that body passed 
an act appropriating five hundred and, five thousand dollars for the 
erection of a Centennial Building in honor of the United States and 
for the illustration of the functions and resources of the American 
Government in times of peace and of war. The legislatures of sev- 
eral of the States also became interested in the enterprise, and made 
appropriations — ranging from five thousand to fifty thousand dollars — 
for the purpose of erecting State Buildings on the Exhibition 
grounds, the sum thus contributed amounting to nearly a half 
million dollars. Finally, as the success of the Exposition became 
more and more assured, the patriotism of the people a.nd the clamors 
of the press drove the national Congress into an appropriation of a 
million five hundred thousand dollars to supply the deficit which was 
still reported by the Board of Finance. Such were the principal 
measures by which the Centennial fund was finally secured. 

One of the first matters to which the attention of the Centennial 
Commission was directed, was the selection of suitable grounds for 
holding the Exposition. But that problem was soon solved in the 
most satisfactory manner. By the act of March 3d, 1871, it was 
decided by Congress that the Exhibition should be held within the 
corporate limits of Philadelphia. The authorities of that city, throw- 
ing their wliole energies into the enterprise, at once proffered to the 
commissioners the free use of Fairmount Park, one of the largest 
and most magnificent in the world. This beautiful tract, presenting 
every variety of surface, well wooded and well watered, extends on 
both sides of the Schuylkill for more than seven miles, and along the 
banks of the Wissahickon for nearly the same distance. The entire 
park embraces two thousand seven hundred and forty acres, and 
presents to the eye every thing that is lovely and refreshing in 
Avoodland scenery, beautified and adorned by the hand of art. The 
portion of the grounds more particularly set apart for the purposes 
of the Exposition, including an area of four hundred and fifty acres, 
lies on the right bank of the Schuylkill, below Belmont, and was 
formerly known as the old Lansdowne Estate. 

The formal transfer of the grounds to the Centennial Commission 
was made on the 4th of July, 1873. An immense throng of citizens 




(569) 



570 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and strangers gathered in the park to witness the eeremonies. The 
address of presentation Mas made by the Honorable Morton Mc- 
Micliael of Pliiladelphia, and the response by General Hawley, 
president of the Commission. The dedicatory oration was then 
delivered by Governor Hartranft of Pennsylvania, who, after reciting 
the congressional acts and various other measures upon which the 
Centennial enterprise had thus far proceeded, continued in the 
following eloquent manner : 

" We have assembled here to dedicate a portion of this beauti- 
ful park to the uses of a great International Exhibition, which is 
to commemorate the anniversary of our country's birth. Upon 
the threshold of the century to expire in 1876, thirteen poor and 
feeble colonies, with no common ties other than their love of liberty 
and hatred of oppression, declared their independence. These 
Thirteen Colonies, with their offspring, now increased in number to 
thirty-seven, stretch their empire across a continent, and afford the 
grandest exhibition of a nation's progress in the world's history. In 
all the wondrous changes wrought in the nineteenth century, none 
are so wondrous and conspicuous as the industrial, moral, and physi- 
cal growth of this our native land. With those powerful auxiliaries, 
steam and the telegraph — both of which our country gave to man- 
kind — we are striding with majestic steps toward a dominion unri- 
valed by any other nation on the face of the earth. Let us, then, 
from every State — north, south, east, and west — bring to this great 
city, the consecrated place where our liberty was born, the evidences 
of our culture, the proofs of our skill, and our vast and varied 
resources, that the world may have a glimpse of our enlargement, 
industry, wealth, and power. To the myriads who will gather here, 
let us accord a welcome which shall be in keeping with the dignity 
and magnitude of our country. Here, too, let our own people gather, 
garnering new and fresh ideas from a survey of the world's arts and 
industries ; and let us dedicate ourselves to a higher civilization, to 
more extensive fields of development, to more liberal and more widely 
diff'used education, to the purification of our institutions, and to the 
preservation of that liberty Avhich is the foundation-stone of our 
prosperity and happiness." 

Governor Hartranft was followed by George M. Robeson, secre- 
tary of the navy, who read a proclamation by the President of the 
United States ; and then the General Regulations for the government 
of the Exposition were announced as follows : 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 571 

I. The International Exhibition of 1876 will be held in Fair- 
mount Park, in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1876. 

II. The date of opening the Exhibition will be April 19th, 
1876, and of closing will be October 19th, 1876. 

III. A cordial invitation is hereby extended to every nation of 
the earth to be represented by its arts, industries, progress, and 
development. 

IV. A formal acceptance of this invitation is requested previous 
to March 4th, 1874. 

V. Each nation accepting this invitation is requested to appoint 
a Commission, through which all matters pertaining to its own inter- 
ests shall be conducted. For the purpose of convenient intercourse 
and satisfactory supervision, it is especially desired that one member 
of every such Commission be designated to reside at Philadelpiiia 
until the close of the Exposition. 

VI. The privileges of exhibitors can be granted only to citizens 
of countries whose governments have formally accepted the invitation 
to be represented, and have appointed the aforementioned Commis- 
sion; and all communications must be made through the Govern- 
mental Commissions. 

VII. Applications for space within the Exposition buildings, or 
in the adjacent buildings and grounds under the control of the Cen- 
tennial Commission, must be made previous to March 4th, 1875. 

VIII. Full diagrams of the buildings and grounds will be fur- 
nished to the Commissioners of the diiferent nations which shall 
accept the invitation to participate. 

IX. All articles intended for exhibition, in order to secure 
proper position and classification, must be in Philadelphia on or 
before January 1st, 1876. 

X. Acts of Congress pertaining to custom-house regulations, 
duties, etc., together with all special regulations adopted by the Cen- 
tennial Commission in reference to transportation, allotment of space, 
classification, motive power, insurance, police rules, and other matters 
necessary to the proper display and preservation of materials, — will be 
promptly communicated to the accredited representatives of the sev- 
eral governments cooperating in the Exposition. 

On the day after the dedication of the grounds in Fairmount 
Park, a copy of the President's proclamation, already mentioned, was 
transmitted to each of the foreign ministers resident at Washington. 
At the same time, the American secretary of state notified the minis- 



5/2 HISTORY OF THE UXITEB STATES. 

ters that the proposed display was intended as an International 
Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and 
Mine ; that the special design of the Exi^osition was to commemorate 
the Declaration of the Independence of the United States ; that 
another prime object was to furnish to all nations an opportunity for 
mutual improvement and a higher culture in beholding the products 
of each other's civilization ; that the President of the United States 
indulged the hope that all the diplomatic representatives of foreign 
nations would bring the Exposition and its objects to the attention 
of the people of their respective countries; and that the Exliibition 
might greatly conduce to the establishment and perpetuation of in- 
ternational friendship and good will. These official communications 
were cordially received by the foreign ministers and by the govern- 
ments which they represented. The President's invitations were 
quickly accepted ; and before the expiration of the allotted time, the 
following nations had notified the American Government of their 
desire and intention to participate in the Exposition : The Argentine 
Confederation, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chili, China, Den- 
mark, Ecuador, Egypt, France (including Algeria), German Empire, 
Great Britain and her Colonies, Greece, Guatemala, Hawaii, Hayti, 
Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, 
Norway, Orange Free State, Persia, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Siam, 
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunis, Turkey, United States of Colom- 
bia, Venezuela. 

One of the earliest and most difficult of the subjects which 
engaged the attention of the Centennial Commission was the proper 
analysis and classification of the materials to be exhibited. Until 
this c|UGstion w'as settled it could not be known what buildings to 
erect or how to erect them. Nor could the various nations know in 
advance how to select and arrange their products so as to come into 
proper competition Avith each other, until a General Classification 
should be prepared and reported. It was foreseen, moreover, that 
a mistake in this regard would be in a great measure fotal to the 
.success of the Exposition, as a bad classification would be sure to 
result in heaping up in the Centennial buildings a vast and chaotic 
mass of materials which nobody could appreciate or understand. In 
this important work of classification the Commissioners — considering 
the magnitude and novelty of the task imposed upon them — succeeded 
admirably. It was decided to arrange all of the materials which 
i;hould be presented for exhibition in ten great classes or departments, 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 573 

the names of which shoiikl suggest, even to the commou beholder, 
the particular object on display. The following was the General 
Classification adopted by the Commission : 

I. Raw Materials ; Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal. 

II. Materials and Manufactures used for Food or in 
THE Arts ; the results of Extractive or Combining Processes. 

III. Textile and Felted Fabrics ; Apparel, Costumes, and 
Personal Ornaments. 

IV. Furniture and Manufactures of General Use in 
Construction and in Dwellings. 

V. Tools, Implements, Machines, and Processes. 

VI. Motors and Transportation. 

VII. Apparatus and Methods for the Increase and Dif- 
fusion OF Knowledge. 

VIII. Engineering ; Public Works, Architecture, etc. 

IX. Plastic and Graphic Arts. 

X. Objects illustrating Efforts for the Improvement 
OF THE Physical, Intellectual, and Moral Condition of 
Man. 

Each of these genei'al departments was divided and subdivided 
until a proper classification of all the materials about to be exhibited 
was secured. 

To erect buildings suitable in character and capacity — buildings 
illustrative of the taste, equal to the enterprise, and worthy of the 
genius of the American people — was the next great duty devolved 
upon the Centennial Commission. Here success was necessary. To 
succeed was to elicit the admiration of every people ; to fail was to 
fail ingloriously. The reputation of the United States was at stake. 
For the foremost men of all the world, the savants of Europe and 
Asia — art critics, wits, and journalists; statesmen, poets, and philoso- 
phers; admirers of the beautiful, keen-scented satirists, and dislikers 
of republicanism out of every clime under heaven — were sure to gaze 
upon and criticise whatever should be built in Fairmount Park, and 
to carry abroad the story of our honor or our disgrace. Grand and 
imposing structures would add to the dignity of the great occasion. 
]\Iean and insignificant I^uildings would insure a mean and insignificant 
exhibition, and that, in its turn, would produce among all nations a 
contemptuous estimate of the American people and their institutions. 

After much deliberation, the Centennial Commission determined 
upon the erection of five principal buildings, the name and character 



574 HISTOR Y OF THE UXITET) STA TES. 

of each to be iletermined by the nature ^A the niaterial.s therein to be 
displayed. The first of these, called the Main Building; was de- 
signed with special reference to the exhibitictn of Products of the 
Mine, Workmanship in the Metals, Manufactures in general, Edu- 
cational and Scientific displays. The second building — called the 
Memorial Hall, or Art Gallery — was planned for the exhibi- 
tion of the Fine Arts in all their various branches and modifications 
— Sculpture, Painting, Engraving, Lithogra})hy, Photography, Indus- 
trial and Architectural Designs, Decorations, and Mosaics. Tiic third 
principal building was named Machinery Hall, and was designed 
for the display of Machines of every pattern and purpose known to 
man — Motors, Generators of Power, Pneumatic and Hydraulic Appa- 
ratuses, Railway Enginery, and Contrivances for Aerial and Water 
Transportation. The fourth edifice projected by the Commissioners 
was called Agricultural Hall, and was planned for the exhibition 
of all Tree -and Forest Products, Fruits of every grade and descrip- 
tion. Agricultural Products proper. Land and Marine Animals includ- 
ing the Apparatus used in the Care and Culture of the same. Animal 
and Vegetable Products, Textile Materials, Implements and Processes 
peculiar to Agriculture, Farm Engineering, Tillage and General Man- 
agement of Field, Forest, and Homestead. The fifth and last build- 
ing, called Horticultural Hall, was designed for the proper dis- 
play of Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers — Hot-houses, Conserv- 
atories, Graperies; Tools, Accessories, Designs, Construction, and 
Management of Gardens. Such was the general plan under which 
the jjrincipal edifices of Fairmount Park were begun. 

On the 4th of July, 1874, the foundations of Memorial Hall 
were laid with appropriate ceremonies. In the following September, 
work was begun on the Main Building, and was steadily carried for- 
ward during the whole of the next year and until the beginning of 
February, 1876, when the immense structure was completed. Machin- 
ery Hall was built between the months of January and October, 1875. 
On the 1st of May, in the same year, the foundations of Horticultural 
Hall were laid, and the building was brought to comj)leti()n April 
1st, 1876. Agricultural Hall was not begun until September of 1875, 
but the work was carried forward so rapidly that the edifice was com- 
pleted by the middle of the following April. Meanwhile, the work 
on THE Government Building, the construction of which had 
been provided for by the congressional act of March od, 1875, was 
pressed to completion early in 1876. Moreover, it had become appar- 
ent *,o the Commissioners that the space provided in Memorial Hall 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 575 

•would by no means accommodate the immense exhil)ition of Fine 
Arts which was now confidently expected; and an Art Annex was 
accordingly planned and built. It was also found from the rapidly 
accumulating applications for space that the Main Building itself 
would be filled to overflowing ; and two Annexes — the principal one 
for carriages and the other for the display of the Minerals of the 
United States — were- accordingly added to that immense structure. 

Other buildings — illustrative of various interests and enterprises 
brought together from the ends of the earth — were rapidly planned 
and constructed. A Woman's Pavilion, projected and carried to 
completion by an organization called the Women's Centennial Exec- 
utive Committee, was begun in the middle of October, 1875, and fin- 
ished in the following January. The building was designed for the 
special exhibition of whatever woman's skill, patience and genius 
have produced, and are producing, in the way of handicraft, inven- 
tion, decorations, letters, and art. Next came the several States and 
Territories, selecting grounds and constructing a series of State 
Buildings, commemorative of the spirit and illustrating the re- 
sources of the respective commonwealths of the Union. Nearly all 
the foreign nations participating in the Exposition made haste to 
erect, for their own convenience and for the honor of native land, 
elegant Government Buildings — French, Spanish, or British — 
which became a kind of head-quarters and rendezvous for the sev- 
eral nationalities. Then came model dwellings and Bazaars, School- 
houses and Eestaui-ants, Judges' Halls and model Factories, News- 
paper Buildings and Ticket Offices, — until the Centennial grounds 
(capacious as they were) were filled with — shall it be called a city? — 
the most imposing, spacious, and ornate ever seen in the world. A 
more complete description of some of those grand structures will here 
be appropriate. 

The first and largest of them all was the Main Building, situated 
immediately east of the intersection of Belmont and Elm Avenues. 
The edifice was in the form of a parallelogram, having a length from 
east to west of eighteen hundred and eighty feet,* and a breadth 
from north to south of four hundred and sixty-four feet. The build- 
ing throughout its greater extent was one story high, the main cornice 
being forty-five feet from the ground. The general height within was 
seventy feet, rising to ninety feet under the principal arcades. From 
each of the four corners of the building rose a rectangular tower 
forty-eight feet square and seventy-five feet high. Over the central 

* Eighteen luindred and seixnty-six feet (the Centennial number) in the clear. 



676 



HISTOR Y OF THE UNITED NT A TES. 




portion of the main stmcture a 
raised roof one hundred and eigh- 
ty-four feet square was likewise 
surmounted at the corners by four 
towers a hundred and twenty feet 
in height. In the middle of the 
two sides, looking north and south, 
were the principal projections, four 
hundred and sixteen feet in length. 
The corresponding projections at 
the . ends were two hundred and 
sixteen feet long, and extended, 
the western in the direction of 
Machinery Hall, and the eastern 
towards the city. In these four 
projections were placed the main 
entrances to the building; that on 
the east facing the carriage-ways 
to the city; the southern receiv- 
ing passengers from the street-cars 
and the dejwt of the Pennsylvania 
Railway ; the M'estern being rath- 
er an exit to other j)arts of the 
grounds than an entrance proper; 
and the northern facing Memorial 
Hall and the Schuylkill. 

In the ground-plan of this 
immense building a central nave 
or avenue, a hundred and twenty 
feet in width, traversed the main 
diameter to the distance of eight- 
een hundred and thirty-two feet. 
Parallel with this, two side aisles 
a hundred feet wide, and of the 
same length with the principal 
nave, divided the spaces between 
the same and the sides of the 
building. These three main ave- 
nues were intersected at right an- 
gles by cross aisles forty-eight feet 
in width, dividing the whole area 



GRANTS ADMINISTRATION. 577 

of the floor into blocks or squares, with spacious avenues entirely around 
them. The principal nave and its parallel aisles wei'e likewise inter- 
sected by the main and two subordinate transepts, dividing the cen- 
tral space of the ground-floor into nine great squares, free from 
columnar support, and embracing an area of over a hundred and 
seventy-three thousand square feet. The entire area of the ground- 
floor was eight hundred and seventy-two thousand three hundred 
and twenty square feet ; of the floors in the projections, thirty- 
.seven thousand three hundred and forty-four feet; of the tower floors, 
twenty-six thousand three hundred and forty-four feet; — making an 
aggregate area of nine liundFed and thirty-six thousand and eight 
square feet, or twenty-one and forty-seven hundredths acres! The 
ground-floor proper covered a space of a little more than twenty acres.* 
The building was chiefly of iron and glass, and contained a mass 
of material unprecedented in the history of architecture. The outer 
walls were carried up in brick-work to the height of seven feet from 
the foundations, which consisted of stone piei's of the most substantial 
masonry. Above the brick-woi-k the panels between the columns of 
.support were occupied with glazed sash, sections of which were movable 
for i)urposes of ventilation. The roof was of tin, laid solidly on boards 
of pine ; and the exterior ornaments — abounding on all the corners, 
angles, and towers — were of galvanized iron. The columns of interior 
support — uumbcring six hundred and seventy-two, aud ranging from 
twenty-three to one hundred and twenty-five feet in length — were 
of rolled iron, and had an aggregate weight of two million two hun- 
dred thousand pounds. The roof trusses and girders were of the same 
material, and weighed about five million pounds. No less than seven 
million feet of lumber were used in the construction of the building. 

* A comparison of the leading Centennial buildings (in respect of dimensions) witU 
other famous edifices may prove of interest. 

Name of Stricture. Area of GROiiND-lloon. 

Main Exposition Buildiiis, . . . 872,320 Square feet, 20.02 Acres. 

Machinerv Hall 558,440 " " 12.82 " 

Asrioultiiral Hall 442,800 " " 10.16 " 

Memorial Hall, 7G,650 " " 1.76 " 

Horticultural Hall, 73,912 " " 1.69 " 

The Louvre (including the court), . . 309,888 " " 7.11 " 

St. Peter's, 273,927 " " 6.28 " 

The Capitol 261.348 " " 6.00 " 

The Coliseum, 245,340 " " 5.63 " 

St. Paul's, 142,500 " " 3.27 " 

Cathedral of Milan, 139,968 " " 3.21 " 

Tuileries, 108,864 " " 2.50 " 

Westminister 103,733 " " 2.38 '• 

St. Sophia, 82,600 " " 1.89 " 

St. Stephen's, 81,420 " " 1.86 " 

Kotre Dame, 56,160 " " 1.27 " 

37 



0?8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The water ami drainage pipes — laid for tlie most part underneath the 
floor — were four miles in length. Light — whether streaming thi'ough 
acres of stained and fretted glass by day, or blazing from thousands 
of gas-jets and burnished reflectors by night — was equally and abun- 
dantly distributed. Hydrants — everywhere and ever full — promised 
.security against the destroyer. 

Such were the principal features of the largest, if not the most 
imposing, edifice in the world. The general effect, notM'ithstanding 
the immense size of the building, was especially airy and pleasing. 
Happy proportions and the regularity of irregularity reduced the 
apjjarent dimensions of the mammoth pavilion till the vision was 
nowhere oppressed with a sense of cumbrous outlines or heaviness 
of structure. In practical adaptation to the purposes for which it 
was designed, the building was all that could be desired ; and in its 
effect upon that sense — call it by what name you will — which takes 
cognizance of the sublime and beautiful, there was small room for 
caviling and criticism. From the great towers and observatories, 
rising grandly above the roof, the eye of the beholder, sweeping 
around the horizon, drank in without fatigue the historic outline 
of the surrounding country and the midsummer glories of Fair- 
mount Park. Here wound the Schuylkill. Yonder was Laurel Hill, 
where Elisha Kent Kane sleeps in an uninscribed grave on the rocky 
hillside. No need of epitaphs for such as him ! Farther on there 
came a glimpse of Germantown, where through the fogs and deso- 
lations of that forbidding October day-dawn a iiundred years ago the 
greatest man of all history, at the head of his ragged and half-starved 
army, struggled against the foe. Here to the east, spreading away 
from the very feet of the beholder to the distant rolling Delaware, 
and right and left to the skirts of the horizon, slumbered under the 
summer sun the old City of Penn, where in those same heroic days, 
now gliding dreamily into the shadows of the past, Adams and Jef- 
ferson and Franklin did the bravest deed in the civil history of the 
human race. Such were the .thrilling associations which clustered 
around the great Centennial Building. Only one melancholy reflec- 
tion arose to trouble the soul of tlie beholder: the grand edifice was 
designed only as a temporary structure — meant to subserve the fleeting 
purposes of the International Exhibition. 

The building second in importance, though not in size, among 
the Centennial structures, was the Memorial Hall, or Art Gallery. It 
stands upon a broad terrace in the Lansdowne Plateau, at the dis- 
tance of two hundred and fifty feet from the north projection of the 



580 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Main Building, and a iumdred and sixteen feet above the level of 
the Schuylkill. The structure is of iron, granite, and glass, and is in 
that modern style of architecture called the Rcnakmnce. The build- 
ing is in the form of a rectangular parallelogram, and is three hun- 
dred and sixty-five feet in length, two hundred and ten feet wide, and 
fiftv-nine feet in height above a twelve-foot basement of stone. The 
dome, also rectangular in form, rises a hundred and fifty feet above 
the terrace, and is surmounted with a colossal bell bearing a mag- 
nificent statue of the goddess America, cast in zinc, twenty-three and 
a half feet in height, and weighing six thousand pounds. At the fi)ur 
corners of the base of the dome are seated other statues representing 
the four quarters of the globe. The floor of the main hall below has 
an area of more than a half acre, and is capable of accommodating 
eight thousand spectators at one time. In its architectural elements 
the building embraces hints derived from many styles, some of which 
— as, for instance, the arcades — date back as far as the villas of An- 
cient Rome ; but the general effect is that of nnity, elegance, and 
grandeur. 

The Centennial surroundings of Memorial Hall were appropriate 
and striking. Before the main entrance and on either hand were sta- 
tioned two colossal bronze pegasi curbed by the Muses. On the south- 
west angle of the terrace a group of statuary, also in bronze, repre- 
sented the firing of a mortar and the flight of the shell, watched by 
the men of the battery; while on the southeast angle a corresponding 
group depicted a dying lioness, surrounded l)y her whelps and guarded 
by her lord. Opposite the main entrances of the edifice the terrace 
was ascended by flights of stone steps, spacious and grand ; and the 
beholder, when for the first time he reached the plateau, found him- 
self face to face with an edifice among the most novel and beautiful 
in the New World. As he stood midway between the site of the Main 
Building and Memorial Hall, he saw, on the one hand, a mammoth 
structure designed for the exhibition of all things practical, utilitarian, 
and profitable among the products of thought and application ; and, 
on the other, a temple fit for the repose and revelation of all things 
ideal, beautiful, and sublime among the trophies of human genius. 

The Art Gallery was built at a cost of a million five hundred 
thousand dollars. The funds for this purpose were the joint contri^- 
bution of Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania. The building 
was designed as a permanenf structure, affording for present time i. 
euitable gallery for the Fine Art display of the International Exhibi- 
tion, and, in its final purpose, becoming a national memcriai of the 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 



681 



Centennial year. After the close 
of the Exposition, the edifice was 
converted, according to the pur- 
pose of its founders, into a recep- 
tacle for the Pennsylvania Museum 
if Industrial Art, — an institution 
similar to that of South Kensing- 
ton, in London. AVhen the other 
structures, many in purpose and 
fashion, which the Centennial cel- 
ebration had caused to spring up 
in Fairmount Park, were struck 
from their foundations — disappear- 
ing even as they came, like an 
exhalation of the night, — Memo- 
rial Hall, with its higher purpose 
and destiny, was happily preserved 
for after ages as an enduring mon- 
ument of the artistic taste and pa- 
triotism of the American people. 

In its general plan and out- 
line Machinery Hall was similar to 
the Main Exposition Building, and 
only second thereto in dimensions. 
The ground-plan was a rectangu- 
lar parallelogram fourteen hun- 
dred and two feet in length, and 
three hundred and sixty feet in 
width. On the south side the cen- 
tral transept of the main hall pro- 
jected into an Annex, two hun- 
dred and eight feet in depth by two 
hundred and ten feet in breadth. 
On the north the front of the prin- 
cipal structure was on a right line 
with the corresponding front of 
the Main Building, and the two 
edifices were separated by an inter- 
vening space or promenade of only 
five hundred and forty-two feet ; 
so that, gluuciug from the east end 




582 HLiTOMY OF THE UyiTEl) , STATES. 

of the Main Buildinsj to the Avesteni oxtreme of Machinery Hall, 
the eye wwept along an almost unbroken front line tiwrc than .scvrnty- 
hvo hundredfh.s of a mile in length ! The principal materials used iu 
the construction of Machinery Hall Mere iron and glass. The piern 
of the foundation were of stone, and the supporting columns, for the 
most part, of wood. The main cornice without was forty feet from the 
ground, and the general height within was seventy feet. The build- 
ing was painted in a pleasing tint of purplish blue, relieved by various 
hues of contrasted colors. At the four corners and over the main 
side-entrances stood the towers, a hundred feet in height, breaking up 
in some measure the otherwise monotonous outline of the building. In 
the north-east tower Mas hung the famous chime of bells, thirteen in 
number, M'eighing twenty-one thousand pounds, — many-tongued and 
clamoi'ous M'ith the silver music which they flung out upon the air in 
honor of the Old Tliirteen States. Over the central gallery a royal 
bald-eagle looked down upon the great clock which calmly marked 
the hours of the Centennial summer. 

Machinery Hall could hardly be called a thing of beauty : it 
was too long and low for that ; — but if adaptability to the purpo.ses 
for which it was designed be a criterion, the .structure was by no means 
wanting in taste. American civilization is the civilization of utility, 
invention, and mechanism. The engine is the emblem, and Qv<r 
Prosxmt Omnibus the motto, over the doorway of our temple. On 
the porches and architrave of what great structure might the em- 
blem and the motto be more approj)riatcly set than on the arches 
of Machinery Hall ? For here Invention was queen, and Utility her 
minister of state. Here was the realm where Thought had the mas- 
tery over Matter — the empire of wheels and pistons, where Steam 
was the Mother of Motion. — All this and more was foreshadowed and 
provided for in the grand structure designed by the Centennial Com- 
mission for the dis])lay of machinery. 

The fourth principal building of the Exposition grounds was Ag- 
ricultural Hall, situated on the eastern side of Belmont Avenue, and 
beyond the valley of the .same name. The ground-plan of the edifice 
presented a central nave eight hundred and twenty feet in length, 
and one hundred and twenty-five feet wide. This principal aisle was 
crossed at right angles by a main and two subordinate transepts — the 
former one hundred feet, and the latter eighty leet, in M'idth. The 
projections of these transepts formed two courts on either side of tlu- 
main structure, M'hich, together with the four s])aces similarly formed 
at the corners of the building, Mere enclosed M-ith fronts and i-oofs, — 




(oS3) 



584 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

whereby the edifice was exteiuled into :\\\ immense parallelogram eight 
hundred and twenty feet long, and five hundred and fi)rty feet in 
width. The entire area thus embraced in the ground-floor was ten 
and three-tenths acres. 

As to its style, Agricultural Hall had a touch of Gothicism— 
suggested by the Howe truss-arches of the nave and transepts — in its 
construction. Over the bisection of the central avenue and the main 
transept, rose an elegant cupola surmounted by a weather-vane. The 
entrances were ornamental, and at each side were handsome turrets. 
The roofs were pointed, stained a greenish tint, and flecked with sky- 
lights. The body of the building was composed of wood, iron, and 
glass, and was painted brown. The general effect was pleasing, and a 
bird's-eye view revealed in the edifice and its surroundings a pictur- 
esqueness hardly discoverable in any other of the Exposition struct- 
ures. This building, being devoted to the general purposes of an 
Agricultural display, had the necessary concomitant of yards for the 
exhibition of all the domestic fowls and animals. The entire cost of 
Agricultural Hall was nearly two hundred and sixty thousand dollars. 
The building was a temporary structure, and at the close of the Ex- 
position was taken down and removed from the Park. 

In the erection of Horticultural Hall — fifth and smallest of the 
main Exhibition edifices — the Centennial committees displayed their 
liking for the Moors. For the building is Arabesque in its archi- 
tecture. The twelfth century furnishes the model, and the nineteenth 
does the work. As to situation, Hoi'ticultural Hall stands on the 
Lansdowne Terrace, north of the valley, overlooking the Schuylkill. 
As to materials, — iron, glass, and wood. As to dimensions, — three 
hundred and eighty-three feet long, one hundred and ninety-three 
feet broad, and sixty-nine feet to the top of the lantern. As to 
cost, — three hundred thousand dollars. As to purpose, — a temple of 
flowers. As to destiny, — a permanent ornament of Fairmount Park. 
For the city of Philadelphia contributed the funds for the building, 
and decided that it should stand in spite of the general demolition 
and temple-crushing which prevailed at the close of the Exposition. 

Next among the notable structures of the Exhibition ground* 
was that building provided for by the Congressional act of March 3d, 
1875, and called the United States Government Building. It stood 
on Belmont Avenue, northward from Machinery Hall. The ground- 
plan was a cross, with the main stem four hundred and eighty feet, 
and the transept three hundred and forty feet, in length. In the cen- 
tral part, the building was two stories in height. Over the bisection 




(5b5) 



586 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of the nave and transept rose an octagonal dome, surmonntod bv a 
flag-staft". The edifice was elegantly painted, the prevailing color being 
brown. The roof was black, the dome in imitation of wood, and all 
the ceilings bine. The walls within were divided into panels, in each 
of which was laid off a diamond-shaped space containing in its center 
an emblem representing some department or function of the Govern- 
ment. The general effect of the building was that of airiness and 
ease — hardly to have beeeu expected in an edifice so strongly and 
heavily built. 

The Woman's Pavilion, already mentioned, was located at the 
western end of the Horticultural section of the grounds, and was one 
of the most beautiful of the Centennial buildings. The structure was 
of wood and glass. Here again the ground-plan was a cross, each of 
the arms being a hundred and ninety-two feet long, and sixty-four 
feet in width. The end of each transept was adorned with an elegant 
porch ; and the spaces in the corners — formed by the four projections 
of the building — were converted into four minor pavilions, and made 
an integral part of the main hall. Within, there were in all only four 
columns of support, the roof resting mainly upon the outside walls. 
The whole interior was painted in delicate tints of blue, the color with- 
out being gray. The central part of the building, surmounted by a 
lantern bearing a cupola, rose to the height of ninety feet. The 
ground-floor embraced an area of nearly seven-tenths of an acre. 

The British Government Building, generally called " St. George's 
House," stood on George's Hill, and was the head-quarters of the Brit- 
ish commissioners. The edifice, embracing in the ground-plan an area 
of twenty-two hundred and fifty square feet, was in the style of archi- 
tecture prevalent in the times of Queen Elizabeth. The roof was com- 
posed of red tiles; and the fixtures, furniture, and decorations were all 
after models which were fashionable at the close of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. The building, which was two stories high, was very handsome — 
even elegant — in its general appearance, recalling forcibly to mind the 
most brilliant and romantic period in English history. St. (ieorge's 
House was designed for the accommodation not only of the commis- 
sioners from the home empire of Great Britain, but also for the use 
and comfort of the agents from the British colonial possessions in 
different parts of the world. 

The Building of the French Government was located castwai-d 
from Memorial Hall. The ground-})lan was a parallelogram sixty feet 
long by forty feet in width. The structure was composed of brick, iron, 
and glass, and in its general aspect was not unwt)rthy to express the 



588 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

interest felt by the autliorities of the Tliird Republi'; in the Americau 
Centennial. The building was designed to subserve the double pur- 
pose of a home for the French Commission and of a hall for the dis- 
play of models representing the public works of France. 

The Building of the German Empire was an edifice still more 
spacious and imposing. It was located east of Belmont Avenue, near 
the head of the Lansdowne Valley. The structure was an imitation of 
stone, in the style of the Renaissance. The area of the ground-plan 
was thirty-four hundred and forty-four square feet, being a parallelo- 
gram. The main portico and principal hall were very beautiful, and 
the walls and ceilings were ornamented with frescos in the best style 
of art. Here were the head-quarters of the Imperial German Commis- 
sion, and here also was a suite of reception-rooms for the accommoda- 
tion of strangers and visitors from the different parts of Father-Land. 

The single woi'd "Espaxa" over the portal of an elegant frame 
structure standing on George's Hill, told the beholder that he was at 
the entrance to the Government Building of Spain. The edifice was of 
wood, was two stories in height, and eighty by one hundred feet in dimen- 
sions. As in the case of the other structures erected by foreign gov- 
ernments, the Spanish Building was intended primarily for the accom- 
modation of the Centennial Commissioners from Spain, and as a place 
of assembly for Spaniards and their friends who may be present al 
the Exposition. The secondary design was that of a suitable hall foi 
the display of models and drawings representing the more important 
public works, fortifications, historical buildings, etc., of Spain. 

The Kingdom of Sweden made a unique contribution to the Cen- 
tennial grounds in the way of a Model School-house. The building 
was constructed and furnished in Sweden according to the pattern 
commonly employed in the better class of the national High Schools. 
Tiie structure was of native wood, unpainted, but brought to a higli 
degree of luster by skillful polishing. The furniture, apparatus, and 
text-books displayed within, were excellent in their respective kinds; 
and the building in its entirety was fully worthy of the ten thousand 
encomiums which \vcre pronounced upon it. 

As already mentioned the different States of the l^nion — except- 
ing Maine, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Flor- 
ida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Oregon 
— erected buildings on the Centennial grounds, commemorative of 
the history, public spirit, and resources of the respective common- 
wealths. These structures varied greatly in their style, expensiveness, 
and jn-oportions — according to the liberality or parsimony of the sev- 




I -".sit I 



590 HISTORY OF THE USITKD NTATES. 

cral State authorities. The buildings of New York, Xcw Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kansas were perhaps superior to any others 
of this class in elegance of design and structure. Of similar sort 
was the splendid Educational Hall of Pennsylvania, designed for the 
display, hy models and model-work, of all the methods and products 
of education in the Keystone State. 

Of private structures the grounds were full. There was a commo- 
dious and valuable edifice situated at the intersection of the Agricul- 
tural Avenue with that of the Republic, called the Dcj)artment of 
Public Comfort — a name significant of its design. An elegant build- 
ing, devoted to the displays of the Singer Sewing Machine Comjiany, 
stood on the southern declivity of the Lansdowne Valley, north of 
the Art Gallery. Southward from Machinery Hall a Shoe and 
I^eather Building had been erected, the design of which was to illus- 
trate the various processes and products of that important branch of 
manufacture. The Building of the Centennial Photographic Associa- 
tion was located on the east side of Belmont Avenue, and was a spacious 
edifice where all the processes of ])hotography were illustrated. Sev- 
eral of the leading newspapers of the country had buildings of limited 
size, where their respective publications were advertised and offered 
for sale. Then came the restaurants, cafes, and bazaars, varying in 
their sort from common-place and mediocrity to a high degree of ele- 
gance and luxury. — An extended descrij)tion of structures of this 
grade and fashion would hardly be appropriate in an abridged history 
of the great Exhibition. 

This account of the Exposition buildings can not be better con- 
cluded than by a brief reference to the unexpected and extraordinary 
part which the Empire of Japan had taken in the Centennial. The 
Japanese buildings — two in number — though neither elaborate in their 
style nor expensive in construction, were far more elegant, tasteful, 
and commodious than had been anticijjated. The Japanese Dwelling 
stood on George's Hill, north of the Spanish Government Building; 
and the oriental edifice was the better of the two! Spain, whose immor- 
tal navigator of the fifteenth century "gave a New World to Castile 
and Leon," did obeisance at the American Centennial to the dusky 
Island Empire of the Far Pacific ! The Bazaar of these progressive 
foreigners was located near the Building of Public Comfort, and ex- 
tended around three sides of a court. The edifice was of carved wood, 
built without nails, low in elevation, covered with tiles. The grounds 
were laid off in the style of a Japanese garden, and were surrounded 
with a quaint fence of interwoven bamboo. These buildings, however,. 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATIOK 591 

creditable as they were, by no means did justice to the enterprise and 
wit of the men who had them in charge. The people of the Western 
Nations have felt a keen surprise at the intelligence, public spirit, and 
progress manifested by the Japanese at the Centennial Exhibition. 

Such were the buildings erected for the great occasion. And the 
time drew near when they were to fulfill their purpose. On the 5th 
if January, 1876, the formal reception of articles for the Exposition 
was begun. From that time forth the work of setting in proper array 
the almost infinite variety of materials which came pouring in from 
all quarters of the world, was pressed with the utmost expedition by 
the Centennial Commissioners. A branch track of the Pennsylvania 
Railway was laid to the very portals of the great halls, and every meas- 
ure was adopted by the managers which could facilitate the delivery 
and arrangement of the articles of display. Still, there were delays, 
foreseen and unforeseen ; and it became apparent that a brief post- 
ponement of the formal opening of the Exhibition would be neces- 
sary. The anniversary of the battle of Lexington had been fixed upon 
as a suitable time for the inaugural ceremonies; but the work lagged, 
and the Commissioners reluctantly changed the date of opening to the 
10th of May, and of closing to the 10th of November, 

Meanwhile, on the 1.3th of October, 1875, A System of Award.s 
had been adopted by the Centennial Commission. The members of 
that body — availing themselves of past experience, and improving 
upon the imperfect methods employed by the managers of the Inter- 
national Expositions of Paris and Vienna — presented the following 
General Scheme : 

I. Awards shall be based upon Written Reports, attested by the 
signatures of their authors. 

II. Two hundred Judges shall be appointed to make such re- 
ports, one-half of whom shall be foreigners, and one-half citizens of 
the United States. They shall be selected for their known qualifica- 
tions and character, and shall be experts in the departments to which 
they shall be respectively assigned. The foreign members of this 
body shall be appointed by the commissioners of each country, and 
in conformity with the distribution and allotment to each, which will 
be hereafter announced. The judges from the United States shall be 
appointed by the Centennial Commission. 

III. The sum of one thousand dollars will be paid to each com- 
missioned judge, for personal expenses. 

IV. Reports and awards shall be based upon Merit. The ele- 
ments of merit shall be held to include considerations relating to 



592 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

origiiialitv, invention, discovery, utility, quality, skill, workmanship, 
fitness for the purposes intended, adaptation to public wants, economy, 
and cost. 

V. Each report shall he delivered to the Centennial Commission 
as soon as completed, for final award and publication. 

YI. Awards shall be finally decreed by the United States Cen- 
tennial Commission, in compliance with the act of Congress, and 
shall consist of a Diploma, with a uniform bronze Medal, and a .sjje- 
cial Report of the judges on the subject of the award. 

VII. Each exhibitor shall have the right to reproduce and pub- 
lish the report awarded to him, but the United States Centennial 
Commission reserves the right to publish and dispose of all reports 
in the manner it thinks best for public information, and also to em- 
body and distribute the reports as records of the Exhibition. 

The day of opening came. Philadelphia was thronged with 
strangers from all parts of the world. Every line of travel contrib- 
uted its multitude. The morning of the 10th of May broke heavily 
with clouds and rain. But patriotism made gloom impossible in the 
i^uaker City, and enthusiasm supplied the place of sunshine. A 
ihousand flags fluttered in every street, and more than ten times ten 
Ihousand people, cheering as they went, pressed their way towards 
Fairmount Park. A military escort, four thousand strong, conducted 
the President of the United States to tiie Centennial grounds. For 
it was he who should declare the formal opening of the Exposition. 
The notables of many nations had already preceded him to the scene 
of the ceremonies. The great open space — traversed by the Avenue 
of the Republic — between the Main Building and Memorial Hall, 
had been prepared for the inauguration. There had assembled the 
Supreme Court of the United States, members of the Cabinet and 
the American Congress, the governors of many of the States, distin- 
guished officers of the army and navv, the ministers from foreign 
countries, Dom Pedro II. of Brazil and his (piecn, illustrious civil- 
ians, statesmen and diplomatists, noblemen with titles and greater 
men without them, — to witness the imposing pageant. 

At the appointed hour the splendid orchestra, led by Theodore 
Thomas, burst forth with the national airs of the various countries 
participating in the Exhibition. Soon the President ascended the 
platform and was seated, with the Brazilian Emperor and Empress 
on his right. Then followed Wagner's celebrated Centennial Inaugu- 
ration 3Tarch, composed for the occasion. Matthew Simpson, bishop 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, then offered an eloquent and fer- 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 



593 



vent prayer, which was followed by the singing of John G. Whittier's 
Centennial Hymn. When the strains had died away, the Honorable 
John Welsh, chairman of the Board of Finance, arose and made a 
formal presentation of the buildings and grounds to General Hawlev, 
president of the Centennial Commission. The latter, in an appropri- 
ate manner, accepted the trust ; and then followed the singing of Sid- 
ney Lanier's Centennial Cantata. General Hawley next delivered an 
address, recounting briefly the things accomplished by the Centennial 
Commission, and in the name thereof presenting to the President of 
the United States the International Exhibition of 1876. The 
President — most famous of all American chief-magistrates for not de- 




INAT'Gl'RAL TEREMONIKS OF THK 



■.XmiJITIoN, 



livering orations — replied to General Hawley in the following well- 
chosen address : — 

" My Countrymen : It has been thought appropriate, upon this 
Centennial occasion, to bring together in Philadelphia, for popular 
inspection, specimens of our attainments in the Industrial and Fine 
arts, and in literature, science, and philosophy, as well as in the great 
business of agriculture and commerce. That we may the more thor- 
oughly appreciate the excellencies and deficiencies of our achieve- 
ments, and also give emphatic expression to our earnest desire to cul- 
tivate the friendship of our fellow-members of this great family ot 
nations, the enlightened agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing 
people of the world have been invited to send hither corresponding 



594 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

.specimens of their skill to exhibit on equal terms, in friendly com- 
petition with our own. — For so doing we render them our hearty 
thanks. 

" The beauty and utility of tlie contributions will this day be 
submitlecl i'^ your inspection. We are glad to know that a view of 
specimens of the skill of all nations will afford you unalloyed pleas- 
ure^ as well as yield to you a valuable practical knowledge of so 
many of the remarkable results of tiie wonderful skill existing in 
enlightened communities. 

"One hundred years ago our country was new, and but ])artially 
.settled. Our necessities have compelled us chiefly to expend our 
means and time in felling forests, subduing prairies, building dwell- 
ings, factories, ships, docks, warehouses, roads, canals, and machin- 
ery. Mo.st of our schools, churches, libraries, and asylums have been 
established within a hundred years. Burdened with the.se great pri- 
mal works of necessity, which could not be delayed, we yet have done 
what this Exhibition will show in the direction of rivaling older and 
more advanced nations in law, medicine, and theology ; in science, 
literature, philosophy, and the fine arts. Whilst proud of what we 
have done, we regret that we have not done more. Our achievement.s 
have been great enough, however, to make it easy for our people to 
acknowledge superior merit wherever found. 

"And now, fcllow-citizeus, I hope a careful examination of what is 
about to l)e exhibited to you will not only insjtire you with a j)rofound 
respect for the skill and taste of our tVieuds from other nations, but 
also satisfy you with the attainments made by our own people dur- 
ing the past one hundred years. I invoke your generous cooperation 
with the worthy Commissioners, to secure a brilliant success to this 
International Exhibition, and to make the stay of our foreign visit- 
ors — to whom we extend a hearty welcome — both ])n)fitable and 
pleasant to them. 

" I DKCLARE THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION NOW OPEN." 

When the President's brief oration was concluded, the National 
ensign was flung out as a signal from the great flag-staff of the Main 
Building; the banners of foreign nations were immediately unfurled; 
cheers rent the air; a salute of a hundred guns from the battery on 
George's Hill answered to the shout. Memorial Hall, the Main 
Building, and Machinery Hall were now thrown open to receive the 
jtrocessiou of invited guests — four thousand in number, and first to 
behold the handiwork of the nations. General Grant and Major 
Alfred T. Goshorn, the al)le and indefatigable Director-Genera! of 



GRA NT'S A DMINJS TRA Tioy. 



595 



the Exhibition, led the way from the Main Buikling, and down the 

great aisle of Machinery Hall to the center, where a special work had 

been reserved for tiie President and tiie Brazilian Emperor. This 

honorable duty was to open the valves of the mighty Corliss Engine, 

whose tremendous pistons were to start into life and motion the in- 

linite machinery of the hall. At twenty minutes past one o'clock, tlie 

signal was given by George 

H. Corliss, the maker of the 

iron giant. The President 

and the Emperor, standing 

upon the raised platform, 

opened the valves; the 

ponderous fly-wheel started 

on its tireless rounds, and 

the multitudinous engines of 




Al.FRKD T. GOSHOHN. 



the hall began their varied 
work. — The Centennial Ex- 
hibition was fairly inaugu- 
rated under the most auspi- 
cious omens. 

Such was the begin- 
ning. Into the spacious 
and beautiful park, into the 
great buildings provided by 
national wealth and patriot- 
ism, had come the products 
of all lands and the people of all climes. Never before in the his- 
tory of the world had so many of the fruits of human genius been 
Ijrought togetlier — never before had so rich a display of tlie handi- 
work and skill of man been made. What, therefore, of the Exposi- 
tion itself? How did it impress the imagination of the beholder? 
How enlarge his faculties and increase his fund of knowledge? Ir» 
what way conduce to a higher standard of civilization? For that 
was the object aimed at. 

The first effect of the great Exposition upon the mind of the be- 
holder was a sense of alarm and bewilderment at the extent of the dis-^ 
play. At the very beginning, he despaired of realizing the exhibition 
on account of its vast proportions. On ascending from the valley of 
the Schuylkill to the Lansdowne Plateau, a vision rose upon liini pos^ 
sessing every element of intellectual interest, from the simple beauty of 
the green sward and flower-gardens at his feet, to the stately magnifii- 



596 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

cence of the Main Building and tiie grandeur of Memorial Hall. Here 
wound the long asphaltum boulevard.s, thronged, but not crowded, 
with ten thousand strangers. Beyond lay a landscape of sloping hill- 
sides, lakes, forest, and fountains. The entire sjwce, though a most 
living j)icture, was noiseless, airy, and clean — a field of many colors, 
full of sunshine, foliage, and flags. For the banners of all nations 
waved everywhere. 

Entering under the eastern arches of the ^Slain Building, the vis- 
itor, rallying from his first surprises, began a work which he should 
never accomplish — that of examining in detail the exhibits of the great 
hall. From the gallery overhead floated down upon him the melodi- 
ous and far-reaching harmonies of the mammoth Hastings organ with 
its twenty-seven hundred pipes and its twelve hundred and eighty 
square feet of front. Ascending to the gallery, the observer found 
himself face to face witJi the splendid educational display of the State 
of Massachusetts — best of its kind at the Exposition — embracing the 
finest of the plans, models, and methods employed in the schools of 
the Old Bay Commonwealth. Turning about and glancing to the 
west, down the long avenues, the full vision of the Exhibition burst 
upon him. There on the ground-floor lay the magnificent " courts," 
or hollow squares, into which the space had been divided — each of 
these courts an exposition in itself. Afar to the right, where the 
main transept ended in the north projection of the building, the gal- 
lery was occupied with the great Roosevelt organ with its electric 
echo and hydraulic engine. In the corresponding gallery, at the 
south end of the transept, were the fine educational displays of IMaine, 
New Hampshire, Rliode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, 
Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
and Iowa. In the gallery at the western end of the main avenue — 
dimly seen at the distance of tliirty-five hundredths of a mile — was 
placed the exhibit of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the 
display consisting of models, drawings, and photographs jjoculiar to 
engineering art. 

Descending to the main floor, the observer found himself in a 
■world of wonders. Near the eastern entrance was the fine exhibit 
made by American stationers, and south of this the splendid book 
display, representing the superb work done by all the great publish- 
ing houses of the country. Further westward was the department 
allotted to the Yale Lock Manuflicturers for the exhibition of their 
model post-offices. Next came the large .section set apart for the dis- 
play of American silks, woolens, and cotton goods — fabrics rivaling 



GRANT'S ADMiyiSTRATION. 



597 



the richest products of European and Oriental factories. And the 
carpet pavilion — also American — with its patterns, delicate, novel, 
luxurious, merited equal praise for the splendor of its treasures. Nor 
did the cutlery of the United States, Mhich was exhibited above the 
Bections allotted to textile fabrics, suffer by comparison with the finest 
corresponding products of British skill. 

Among the southeastern squares was likewise set the display of 
American pottery and porcelain. Near by stood a collection of gran- 
ite monuments, and in the same vicinity a splendid exhibit of iron 
and steel, chiefly from the furnaces and works of Pittsburgh. More 
attractive still was the great display of American watches, made by 




VIEW IN THE MAIN EXHIBITION BUILDING. 



the Waltham Company of Massachusetts and the Elgin of Illinois. 
Beyond the main aisle, to the north, bristled batteries of Catling and 
Parrott guns, and farther on were placed exhibits of safes from sev- 
eral noted firms. The next sections were occupied with the beautiful 
and costly displays of furnishing goods, costumes, etc., from the prin- 
cipal merchants of New York and Philadelphia. Then came an ex- 
hibit of vases, pedestals, and fountains, in terra cotta ; then the sec- 
tions set apart for threads, cordage, and cables ; and south of these, 
beyond the principal avenue, the massive display of the Centennial 
Safe Deposit Company and the beautiful department of American 
clocks. 

On the line of the main aisle, between the eastern entrance and 



598 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the greater transept, were arranged the fine collections of cut ami 
ground glass, the best being from the works of Wheeling and Pitts- 
burgh. In the adjacent sections stood the glittering show-cases of the 
Meriden Britannia Company with their beautiful specimens of silver, 
plated wares, and bronzes. But more magnificent still was the jew- 
elers' pavilion — Moorish in its style — standing at the southeast angle 
of the principal nave and transej)!. In this were displayed the almost 
priceless treasures of the leading American jewelers — Starr and Mar- 
cus, Caldwell of Philadelphia, and the Gorhani Manufacturing Com- 
pany of Providence. Among the articles exhibited by the latter was 
the celebrated Century Vase, representing by its beautiful allego- 
ries and emblems in raised silver the progress of America from bar- 
barism to renown. Here also were the matchless show-cases of Tiffany, 
-starlit with diamonds, and blazing with all manner of precious stones. 
It was here, moreover, that the observer found the best view over- 
head ; for at this point, by the bisection of the principal nave and 
transept, abundant room was afforded above for the display of art. 
Each of the four sides of the vaulted .space was occupied with an 
immense allegorical painting. That on the east represented America, 
with Washington and Franklin for its central figures. The piece em- 
blematical of Europe stood opposite, with Charlemagne and Shake- 
speare as its typical heroes. Asia was represented at the south curve 
of the transept by a group of figures and emblems, with Confucius 
and Mohammed in the midst; while in the north division was set th(? 
painting of Africa, Rameses II. and Sesostris occujiying the center 

In the section south and east of the jewelers' pavilion were 
placed the exhibits of ores, paints, and chemicals. The display of 
printing-inks was made near by; and further to the east stood the 
perfume-fountains with their jets of cologne and halos of fragrant 
mist. Still eastward were set the cases containing the exhibit of j)hil- 
osophical and surgical instruments; and in the same vicinity, to the 
.south, were the sections allotted to furniture, much of which was of 
the richest woods and most elaborate finish known to that branch of 
art. And before the observer had finished his examination of these 
superb apartments — for here the courts were fitted up after the man- 
ner of a suite of rooms — his ear was saluted with strains of music, 
and turning about, he found himself face to face with the finest dis- 
])l;iy of ])iano-fortes ever made in the world. All of the great makers 
had here done their best, under the .stimulus of the sharpest compe- 
tition — Steinway, Chickoring, Decker, Stcck, Knabe, Weber, — each 
with his claims of peculiar excellence, and each anxious for the sii- 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. fj99 

prenie award. — So onded a ramble througli the seven acres of f3pace 
apportioned on the ground-floor of the Main Building to the exhibits 
of the United States. 

But the Saxon's Island Empire, mother of English liberty, was 
also there with her arts and industries. Over the northwest angle 
of the main aisle and transept hung the Red banner of Lancaster, 
hearing the words " Great Britain and Ireland." There were 
the courts apportioned to the British commission. In the first of 
these Avas placed the celebrated exhibit of the Elkingtons, silver- 
smiths of Birmingham. Their collection embraced several pieces 
worthy to rank among the highest products of human skill and pa- 
tience. The work was mostly in the new style of art called Ecpoiissf 
— the process of developing figures in relief upon metallic surfaces by 
hammering. Here stood THE Helicon Vase with its infinite stories 
from the legends of Greece. Here hung the Milton Shield, bear- 
ing upon its ample disc the sublime visions of Paradise Lost.^ Here 
:i great number of less valuable works in silver and bronze gave ex- 
tent and variety to one of the richest collections in the whole Exhi- 
bition. 

Nearer to the northern projection of the Main Building were 
placed the British porcelains and potteries, embracing some of the 
finest specimens of ceramic art. Farther northward was the display 
of ornamental iron-work, and to the west an extensive exhibit of 
tiles. Next came the department of British furniture, rivaling that 
of the United States in the elaborate and sumptuous character of its 
-specimens. Near by, the pavilion of the Royal School of Art and 
Needlework attracted a constant throng of visitors. For the queen 
herself and the members of her family were the makers of those splen- 
did embroideries. Farther to the west was the magnificent display of 
the British carpet-dealers. Then came the exhibit of fire-arms, cut- 
lery, philosophical instruments, stained glass, jewelry — chiefly Scot- 
tish — and then the superb collection of cotton and woolen goods, 
Irish poplins, cloths, silks, and laces, with which the section was 
*i!led along the main avenue. 

The British Colonies had emulated the zeal of the mother-coun- 
try. The Canadian exhibit was of the highest order. The educa- 
tional system of Ontario was fully and meritoriously displayed by 

* It was a matter of oft-repeated inquiry among the visitors at the Centennial, wliy 
these superb specimens of workmansliip exhiliitcd by tlie Elkingtons, as well as the 
Tiirany Bi-ynnl Tase nnrl the Gorham Century Vane, were not transferred to Memorial 
Hall, along with oilier works of art in no respect superior. 



600 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

models, plans, ami drawings illustrative of the methods and work of 
the public schools. The geological department was enriched with a 
full collection of ores, especially plumbago, coal, and granite. The 
Canadian Indians had sent a large contribution of peltry, bead-work, 
and apparel ; and this display was contrasted with the richer and more 
extensive exhibit of furs made by the Company of Hudson Bav. In 
another section specimens of furniture from the shops of Quebec and 
Toronto gave token of tastefully furnished homes in the Dominion. 
Models of Canadian vessels showed commercial enterprise ; cotton 
and woolen goods told of extensive factories; sewing-machines and 
pianos repeated the music of the Noi'thern household. 

Far Australia had also remembered the jubilee of Independence. 
The flocks on her hill-sides had contributed their magnificent fleeces 
to surprise the Western nations. The Argonauts of the South Pacific 
were home aerain with the richest of treasures ! Hei'e stood an obe- 
lisk of phantom gold, showing in cubic inches the quantity of real 
gold taken from the mines of New South Wales since 1851. Here 
were bars of New Zealand tin and blocks of coal ; sections of beau- 
tiful timber and cocoons of silk; ores of antimony and copper; na- 
tive wines and heaps of ])recioiis stones. Excellent photographs of 
Australian cities and scenexy added much to the interest of the ex- 
hibit. 

British India had also contributed specimens of her arts and 
industries. Photographs of her dusky people — oldest of the Aryan 
races — ^whose ancestors and our ancestors, in the far hill-country of 
Bactria, abode together, watching the same flocks, gazing at the same 
stars, and dreaming the same dream of destiny in the ages agone, — 
and ])hotogra])hs of Hindu homes as well, made the display of special 
interest. India carpets, gems from Bombay, and Delhi embroidery 
added brilliancy to the exhibit. Here, too, were jeweled weapons, 
native potterv, and precious stones; shawls and laces; silks and wool- 
ens; cereals and cotton from the banks of the Indus. 

The colony of Xew Zealand was chiefly represented by paintings 
and drawings. But an important display of copper ores, lead, and 
coal was also made. The section of the Cape of Good Hope was 
occuj)ied with a collection of native wines and brandies ; gems and 
weapons ; costumes and ores ; and specimens illustrating the natural 
history of the country. Gold-dust, skins of animals, idols, ornaments, 
and weapons composed the display from the Gold Coast. Jamaica 
sent her rums and sugars, native woods and hemp. Tasmania had 
also come with an exhibit of zoological and mineral specimens. The 



GRANT' JS ADMINISTRATION. 601 

Bahamas, Bermudas, Trinidad, and Guiana were represented by their 
various products, ranging from shells and corals to sugars, tobacco, 
and manufoctures. 

La Belle France — for the third time a republic ! After a hun- 
dred years the land of LaFayette had come to do homage at the 
shrine which his blood had helped to consecrate. The space allotted 
to the French Commission was located between the main aisle and 
the north wall of the building, east of the central transept. The 
section of chief importance was that containing the exhibit of porce- 
lains, rivaling in beauty and excellence the choicest work of the East. 
In glassware, too, the French display was of the highest order. The 
superb mirrors and chandeliers, exhibited by Brocard of Paris, were 
a delight to thousands who thronged around them. The section set 
apart for the display of bronzes and antiques was also crowded with 
admiring multitudes. Here stood an elegant mantel-piece of black 
marble, fifteen feet in height, exquisitely embellished with statues 
and reliefs; and here were grouped artistic cabinets, quaint figures, 
and articles in gilt. 

Another department of great beauty was tliat in wiiich were ex- 
hibited the treasures of French fasliion — laces, gloves, silks, velvets, 
satins, and costumes. In tliis dazzling court Lyons and Paris were 
rivals. Near by was a second department of apparel, where courtly 
wax-figures, dressed to the excess of magnificence, did obeisance to 
other figures in splendid shawls and laces. Further on, stood the 
pavilion of the book publishers of France ; and opposite to this was 
the court of engravings. The walls of the booksellers' pavilion were 
hung with the most elegant tapestries ; and many of the publica- 
tions displayed within were in the highest style of art. North of 
these sections, was the department of French vehicles — a unique col- 
lection, ranging from the quaint Cynofere, or dog-car, to carriages 
of state. 

In the matter of personal ornaments and articles of household 
economy, the French exhibit was of great excellence. The display 
of the Paris jewelers was exceptional in its beauty and tastefulness. 
Of mantel ornaments there was an almost infinite variety, ranging 
from little ivory sprites and j)hantoms in ebony to elaborate clocks 
and bronzes. Of musical instruments — violins, flutes, cornets, music- 
boxes, and mimic birds — the exhibit was elegant after its kind. But 
the French pianos and organs were hardly comparable with the mag- 
nificent instruments displayed by- the LTnited States. In the depart- 
ment of cutlery a fine collection was presented, but the display was 



C02 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 

inferior to the corresponding oxhil)it made l)y Great Britain. Tim 
comparison turned the other way, however, in the section of plate 
glass ; for in that department the French specimens were peerless.* 

West of the central transept and south of the principal aisle were 
the sections allotted to the German Empire. Across the avenue, di- 
rectly opposite the American jewelers' pavilion, was placed the mag 
nificent exhibit of the Royal Factory of Berlin. Here stood an im- 
posing crescent-shaped case, with black columns at either end, bearing 
upon their summits the golden eagles of empire — the empire of Ciesar 
and Charlemagne restored in Hohenzollern. In this case were dis- 
played the German porcelains, next to the French in excellence and 
beauty. Here were plates, busts, and statuettes, elaborate in design 
and intensely national in every part. Here were the three superb 
emblematical pieces called the Germania, the Aurora, and the 
Otho Vases — queenly rivals of the splendid works of the Elkingtons, 
TitJliny, and Gorham. Further to the west was the section of j>latc 
glass ; then the exhibit of the German jewelers ; and then the court 
of armory, where were displayed the uniforms, accouterments, and 
weapons of the German soldiery, from the Crusading times to the 
present. Next came a section filled with toys from Niirnberg, and 
next the displays of Elberfeld silks and Saxon hosiery. On the 
southern aisle the objects of chief interest were the ivories exhibited 
by Meyer of Hamburg, the woven wire goods of Dresden, the gold 
and silver leaf exhibit of Bavaria, and the perfumes of Cologne. 
Nearer to the southern wall was the display of the German chem- 
ists. Then came the Leipsic lamps and lanterns, and then the Lin- 
den pavilion of velvets. 

The southwest section of the German department was occupied 
with what musical instruments soever are played upon in Fatherland. 
But here again, as in the de]>artment of France, the inadequacy of 
the pianos and organs to compete with the instruments of the Fnitcd 
States was plainly apparent. Along the southern wall was placed 
an interesting collection of articles illustrating the apjiliances and 

* Tlio nianufacture of Amerlnm jilate gla.'is is yet in its incipicncy, ami is heset with 
special difficulties. Chief among the embarrassments which have attended tlie enter- 
prise is the want of adequate protection, and the inveterate determination of foreign 
establishments to prevent the success of such manufacture in the I'nited States. Never- 
theless, it is known to the author that but for the .serious misfortune of breaking the 
finest plate in packing, the Honorable W. C. De Pauw, president of the Star Glass 
■Works of New Albany, Indiana, would have contributed to the E.icposition specimens 
of his work fairly rivaling the liest of the French exhibit. The largest of the De Pauw 
colleclion was a magnilieent plate having a supeifcial area (i/'21,095 My»ni-e inekex. 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 603 

method.'^ of a Gernuin army hospital. Near by was the exhibit of 
the Schwartzwokl clock-makers — a quaint and beautiful collection. 
Models of the Hamburg steamships were found in the southeastern 
sections, and, tinally, the elegant pavilion of the German booksellers 
— best of the kind from Europe. 

A description of the departments of the leading Western nations, 
and of the exhibits made thereby, is in some measure a description 
of the rest. True, the beholder as he wandered from court to court 
was ever impressed with the multifarious aspects of human life and 
the ever-varying phases of civilization. Still, so far as the displays 
made by the different branches of the Aryan race were concerned, 
tiiere was unity in variety — a generic similarity with specific modifi- 
cations. As to the Oriental nations, there was a wider departure 
from the common type, but a noticeable similarity of features among 
their t)wn displays. The thoughtful observer rarely failed to find in 
the various courts an exhibit typical of a known civilization, but he 
also found more than that. Thus, for instance, the Austrian sections 
presented the expected treasures of Bohemian cut-glass ; of amber- 
work and meerschaums; of pipes ad infinitum; of Viennese porte- 
monnaies, diaries, and albums ; and the tMiexpected treasures of the 
silk-weavers of the Danube. Also in the Italian court were found 
the anticipated reproductions of ancient art; trophies commemorative 
of the Italian Radicals from Columbus to Garibaldi ; the religious 
halo over every thing ; and the i(?)anticipated display of Venetian 
pottery. The Belgian section presented the finest of Brussels linens, 
laces, and tapestries ; and, as if in contrast with these, an elaborate 
display of fire-arms and an illuminated advertisement of the min- 
eral waters of Sjxi. Holland made an exhibit of what things soever 
the Netherlander prizes — from dikes to pipe-stems, from magnificent 
bridges to humble roofs of thatch. Nor had the conquerors of the 
North Sea forgotten the refinements of letters ; for the Dutch book- 
sellers' pavilion was among the finest at the Exposition. 

Here stood the cuckoo clocks of Switzerland. Geneva, city of 
political philosophy and quaint watches, was present with all iier arts. 
The embroidered lace curtains of St. Gall hung tastefully over pho- 
tographs of the Alpine glens, and the Swiss pavilion of education 
stood near by. Sweden contributed a court of exceptional elegance, 
wt'll filled with the products of her arts and industries. The chief 
attractions of the display were the specimens of Bessemer steel and 
cutlery, Swedish arms and armor, woolens and silks, safety-matches 
and j)ottery. Norway presented her glassware from Christiana. An- 



604 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATEfs. 

cient weapons were placed in contrast with a modern 5forwegian 
school-house, and old coins and medals with n].odern jewels and sil- 
verware. 

Among the sections of chief interest were the courts of Den- 
mark, Egypt, and Spain. These were set contiguous, fronting the 
main aisle, and representing in their style and contents three diverse 
types of civilization. The articles most atti-active in the Danish court 
were terra cotta ornaments, silverware from Copenhagen, Esquimau 
apparel, and a rich collection of furs. Across the entrance-way to 
the Egyptian court was this inscription: "Egypt — Soudan — tiik 

OLDEST PEOPLE OF THE WORLD SENDS ITS MORNING OREETING TO 

THE YOUNGEST NATION." Entering, the visitor was confronted witli 
a bust of Kameses the Great and a model of the Pyramid of Gizeh. 
Then came a gorgeous display of the caparisons and gold-studded 
harness of the steeds of the modern Phai-aohs; then cabinets of 
ebony, costly and quaint ; and then an exhibit of Arabic books and 
manuscripts. The court of Spain was richly hung with Spanisli tro- 
phies and curtains of velvet. Within were the portraits of those dar- 
ing adventurers, Cortez, De Leon, De Soto, and Pizarro. The articles 
displayed were typical of the country and people. Scarfs and shawls 
silks and woolens, porcelain tiles and glassware, chemicals and fire- 
arms, were tlic chief products exhibited. 

Opposite the departments allotted to Sweden stood the court of 
Japan. The contents surpassed description. The display of bronzes 
attracted universal attention and universal praise. The porcelains 
were, beyond comparison, the finest of tlie whole Exposition — finest 
in quality and in the immense variety of the exhibit. Kiclmess of 
coloring — vivid hues of scarlet, green, and gold — prevailed every- 
where. Lacquered ware of every variety, superb cabinets, and silken 
screens embroidered with figures infinite, curious faces, and Japanese 
costumes, made uj) a display which astonished the Western mind with 
the profusion of Eastern art. 

China did not half so well — yet well. About the whole dis]ilay 
were the anticipated characteristics of overdone conservatism. Here 
was the exjtected array of drawings without perspective and designs, 
consisting wliolly of color. Here was a ])agoda painted in flxntastic 
hues, and here that China ware — a ridi profusion of plates and vases — 
for which the Celestial empire has had immemorial tame. Here, too, 
were the beautiful silks, and clotlis with gold embroidery, and elab- 
orate bedsteads carved with dragons' heads, and woven forms unnam- 
able in tapestry and screen. The polite and impassive man of tlie 



GRANT'S ADMINISTBATION. 605 

almond eyes and cue — manager of the exhibit — walked among the 
trophies of his civilization and did reverence before a wooden image 
of Fo. 

The Russian court was placed between the sections of Spain and 
Austria. An iron statue of the inspired barbarian, Peter the Great, 
stood like a grim sentinel to guard the treasures of his empire. ISIuch 
line silverware, of excellent design and workmanship, was displayed 
as the exhibit of Moscow. A magnificent piece in Repousse, called 
The Adoration of the Magi, elicited universal praise. St. Peters- 
burg had sent a similar collection, and also a unique group of bronzes 
illustrative of the life and manners of the Russian peasants. Another 
section contained a superb chandelier, together with statuettes, cas- 
kets, cabinets, and mantels. The exhibit of Russian furs was luisur- 
passed ; and the display of embroidered cloths, velvets, and silks was 
well calculated to excite the jealousy of more favored lands. 

The section of Portugal was found in the rear of the court of 
Egypt. Glassware, porcelain, and pottery constituted a large part of 
the exhibit. The life, costumes, and manners of the Portuguese peas- 
antry were here represented by groups of statuary in plaster. The 
Azores made a beautiful display of phantom ships and flower-baskets 
woven of the fiber of the fig-tree. Along the south wall of the sec- 
tion was placed a fine collection of geological and topographical maps 
and charts illustrating the physical aspect of Portugal. The exhibit 
of raw silk, cotton goods, blankets, and embroidery, Nvas exceiitionally 
good. 

Of the African kingdoms — after Egypt — the best and only dis- 
plays were made by the Orange Free State and Tunis. The court 
of the latter was located in the rear of the sections of Denmark and 
Turkey, and was almost exclusively occupied with the personal ex- 
hibit made by the Dey. The collection consisted of articles illustra- 
tive of the manners and customs of the Bedouins, and of antiquities 
from the ruins of Carthage. The court of the Orange Free State 
occupied the southwestern angle of the building, and was wholly 
devoted to the governmental exhibit made by the authorities of that 
country. An unexpected array of minerals, native woods, ivory, 
grains, mohair, and wool, composed the chief part of the collection. 
But the cases containing the wealth of the feathery races of South- 
eastern Africa, from the infinitesimal humming-birds of Madagascar 
to the straggling descendants of the dinornis, were of 6till greater 
interest and beauty. 

No department in the Main Building was more admired and 



606 HISTOR Y OF THE UNITED STA TES. 

praised than tlic court of Brazil. Dom Pedro and his queen had i o 
cause of sliame in the presence of their national exhibit. The Bra- 
zilian pavilion was located between the courts of the Netherlands and 
Belgium, and was characterized throughout by elegant magnificence 
of structure and contents. At the entrance was a brilliant display of 
flowers and designs delicately woven from the ])lumage of Brazilian 
birds. Topographi<'al maps and photographs illustrated the physical 
aspect of the country; while the splendid display of tropical woods, 
together with the finest of coffees, yams, ginger, and rice, revealed 
the true riches of the empire. 

The minor South American States were also fairly represented. 
The pavilion of Peru was tastefully ornamented ; the contents, of 
value and interest. Gold, silver, cinnabar, copper, iron, and lead, 
were the principal minerals exhibited; coffee, pepper, cinnamon, co- 
coa, caoutchouc, and cinchona, the chief vegetable products. The 
court of Chili was of similar sort, and contained some fine specimens 
of silk and worsted-work; but the most interesting part was the case 
filled with the stuffed skins of Chilian wild animals. The exhibit of 
the Argentine Confederation was chiefly of ores — gold, silver, copper, 
and lead. The displav also embraced fine specimens of Iniilding- 
stone, quartz, and plumbago. The manufactures were, for the most 
part, of leather ; and handicraft was mainly illustrated in a collection 
of native weaj)ons. — Far Hawaii, also, had a pavilion of considerable 
interest, containing a collection of birds, shells, and sea-weed ; fans, 
ferns, and feather-work. 

Mexico, with her pseudo-Latin civilization and anarchic repub- 
licanism, had pitched her court next to that of the United States. 
Tlie pavilion was Aztec in its style, with hints of a more modern 
rfate. The exhibit was principally historic, consisting of antiquities 
and remains. The display of manufactures embraced some fine silks 
and elegant leather goods. Here were effigies of Mexican cavaliers, 
formidable as Quixote in armor. Here were native wines and me- 
dicinal plants, and here a fine collection of ores — silver, galena, and 
iron. But the exhibit in its entirety was neither striking nor ex- 
lensive. 

In the Carriage Annex the observer found much to instruct and 
amuse. For here were the ridiculous vehicles which the fathers made 
their journeys in — old Virginia or Concord coaches, heavy enough 
for a fortification. But here, in contrast, was the full triumph of 
modern art in the combination of the ornate and the useful. All 
things elegant and luxurious of silver-palace car or private carriage 



GRANr'S ADMINISTRATION. 



607 



studded with gold, and all things prosy of spokes and hubs and har- 
ness, were here displayed in i)rofusion. Here again Brazil, compet- 
ing with Pullman and Woodruif, presented a splendid coach from 
the Rio Janeiro Railway. Here Canadian sleighs and sledges were 
contrasted with the diminutive coaches of Italy and the substantial 
vehicles of Old England. — And so the rambler, passing under the 
western arches of the Main Building, found himself in the open air, 
facing the Bartholdi Fountain. 

The way across the beautiful esplanade led to Machinery Hall. 




INTERIOR VIEW OF MACHINERY HALL. 



Entering at the southeastern portal of that great edifice, the observer 
came at once into the department of the German Empire. Immedi- 
ately before him stood the famous Krupp guns, gigantic twelve hun- 
dred pounders, black and terrible as the Miltonic artillery. Several 
rifled cannon of smaller caliber were set in contrast; and just across 
the aisle was a pyramid of iron-ore, showing the material out of which 
tlie great guns were cast. On the opposite side of the battery was 
exhibited a brick-making machine from Berlin. Near the southeast- 
ern angle of the building, the Gas Motor Factory of Deutz displayed 
a peculiar engine in which the piston is propelled by the explosion 
of gas. The best steam-engines exhibited in the German section were 
♦rom the works of Leipsic. 



608 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The department of France embraced the northeastern division of 
the ground-floor. Near tiie entrance thereto was pUiced an elegant 
pavilion in which were illustrated the processes of working in brass 
and copper. The confectioners' section, where bon-bons were made 
and sold, came next, and then the department of Parisian soaps and 
cosmetics. In this jiart also stood the silk-looms of Lyons, and fur 
ther to the north a set of machines illustrating the processes of li- 
thography. An apparatus for the manufacture of beet-sugar was also 
exhibited, and an ice-nuiking machine from Paris. The rest of the 
French contrivances had respect, for the most part, to fashionable 
wants and the avocations of polite society. 

Further westward was placed tiie section of Belgium. Cliaudron 
of Brussels led the exhibit with an effective and tremendous machine 
for boring wells.* Car-wheels and axles from Louvain, a trip-ham- 
mer and steam shears from Marcinelle, and models of machinery for 
the manufacture of stearine, were the next attractive features of the 
display. A splendid exhibit of wool-carding apparatus was presented 
as the contribution of Verviers; and the city of Ghent added a superb 
horizontal engine, built for the mint at Brussels. 

The Northern nations had contributed little in the way of ma- 
chinery: Denmark nothing at all. Sweden made a small but respect- 
able display in the way of trip-hammers, stationary engines, one small 
locomotive, a fire-engine, and several sewing-machines. The con- 
tribution of Norway consisted of some odd-looking machinery for 
working in wood and metal. The Russian display was almost wholly 
of artillery — partly good, partly indifferent in its quality. In the same 
vicinity was the fine exhibit made by Brazil, consisting of models of 
dry docks and men-of-war; military and naval enginery; arms, ac- 
couterments, and munitions; stationary, locomotive, and fire-engines; 
pumps, pin-making apparatus, and machinery employed in the Impe- 
rial mint. 

The best of the exhibits made by foreign nations was that of 
Great Britain. Two of the Eochester traction-engines, standing near 
the eastern entrance to the hall, were much wondered at and praised. 
So, also, the fine carding-machine just opposite. Manchester made a 
fine display of steam hammers, circular saws, and enginery of coinage 
and stamping dies. The armor-plate exhibited here was tiie best ever 
produced, ranging from nine inches to twenty-two inches in thickness, 

■•■ It is clear that, in respect to macliines for upland excavation, the Americans have 
much to learn. That whole line of contrivance, beginning with the plow and ending 
with the dredging-machine, is subject to great and radical improvements. 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 609 

seemingly impenetrable. The Applebys of London exhibited two of 
their tremendous cranes — giants after tlieir kind. English sewing- 
machines — mostly of the hand-power pattern — were plentifully dis- 
played. In the sections near by, the spinning and winding of cotton 
thread was illustrated, and further on, the delicate looms for weaving 
■silken badges were in operation. Gadd of Manchester exhibited an 
engine capable of printing calicoes in eight colors at one impression. 
An effective system of railway switching and signaling was shown by 
Brierly and Reynolds of London. In an adjoining square stood a 
fine model of an Inman steamship, and east of this a Walter printing- 
press in operation. Farther on, Tait and Watson of London displayed 
a collection of machines, including a sugar-mill, a valveless engine, 
and centrifugal drying-pans. — Across the aisle was the exhibit of Can- 
ada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, — embracing turbine wheels, a 
set of railway signals, quartz-mills from Halifax, Toronto marbles, 
fire-engines, sewing-machines, and Indian canoes. 

Of the American department — three-fourths of the whole in ex- 
tent — the greatest trophy was the Corliss vertical engine, standing in 
the middle of the central aisle. The platform was fifty-six feet in 
diameter ; the stroke of the piston, ten feet ; the weight of the fly- 
wheel, a hundi-ed and twelve thousand jiounds. It required twenty 
tubular boilers of large capacity to furnish the pro]ier amount of 
steam. The periphery of the fly-wheel was geared with cogs into the 
underground line of shafting, and the powei- applied was equivalent 
to that of fourteen hundred horses; but the movements of the great 
engine were smooth and noiseless. 

From the central station, the observer, glancing down the south 
transept, had a full view of the Hydraulic Annex. Here pumps of 
every grade and fashion were pouring their torrents into a vast tank 
having a capacity of sixty-three thousand cubic feet of water. An 
interesting display of steel ware was made in a section near by, and 
further on, an exhibit of metal piano-frames by the Steinways. Here 
the process of making nails and tacks was illustrated, and there a 
machine was cutting corks. On this hand was an extensive collec- 
tion of files and screws, and on that a pyramid of grindstones. Far- 
ther on, to the west, was an exhibit of rolled iron, and next, a large 
display of axles and machinists' tools. A huge brick-making ma- 
chine, capable of moulding four thousand bricks in an hour, was fairly 
matched with a mammoth planing machine, Mcighing a hundred and 
sixty-two thousand pounds, and having a traverse of forty-four feet. 
In an adjacent section, paper envelopes were made by an automatic 



610 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

a}iparatiis at the rate of a hmiclrefl and twenty per minute. "Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts, contributed a eoliection of edged tools, dies, and 
presses; and Paterson, New Jersey, a machine for spinning silk. On 
the central aisle model steamers, men-of-war, yachts, and life-boats 
were exhibited. Xext came the sections occupied with Hoe and Bul- 
lock printing-presses; then the book-binding, stereotyping, and elec- 
trotyping display, and then the splendid roller-drum book-press of 
Cottrell and Babcock, New York. A type- writer stood near by, and 
farther on was a section where all the steam- and sailing-vessels owneil 
in the ports of Massachusetts were exhibited by models. 

In the department of confections the American display rivaled 
that of France. Close to the bon-bon section were placed some fine 
wheat-cleaning and centrifugal sugar-drying apparatuses. Then came 
an old Virginia tobacco factory, where all the processes of making 
were exhibited. And the colored people, as they wrought, made the 
hall resound with the weird plantation melodies of the Southland. 
Farther east the manufacture of India-rubber shoes of all sorts and 
sizes was illustrated by the actual processes of the art. Then came 
the glass-blowers' exhibit, and then an excellent display of wall- 
paper by the Howells of Philadeljjhia. A collection of washing- and 
wringing-machines caught the attention for a moment, and then the 
observer found himself before the huge sugar-refining a|)paratus ex- 
hibited by the Colwell Iron Works of New York. The Wharton 
automatic switch was exhiliited near by, and then came a splendid 
display of common and platform sc^ales. INIining machinery was 
shown by the Dickinson Company of Scranton, and American loco- 
motives — unsurpassed by any in the world — by the Baldwin Works 
and the Pennsylvania Railway. In the adjacent section the AVesting- 
house air-brake and the Henderson hydraulic-brake were exhibited 
in sharp competition. The Backus water-motor here attracted much 
attention, as did also an odd hydraulic-ram near the western entrance. 
The department of American power-looms — rivaling those of the best 
European factories — was constantly thronged with visitors, and the 
section where Waltham watches were made was a similar scene of 
eager interest. The Pyramid Pin Company of New Haven exhibited 
a quaint little machine for sticking pins in papers. A powerful hy- 
draulic cotton-press was shown by the Taylor Iron Works of Charles- 
ton, and a magnificent collection of wire ropes and cables by the 
Roeblings of Trenton. 

The display of railway bars — iron and steel — was, for the most 
part, made by the works of Pittsburgh. Among the western sections 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. Gil 

of the hall some fine ditching and draining enginery was exhibited; 
and near by wa.s the display of American knitting-machines. Of sew- 
ing-machines the exhibit was unrivaled. The competition reminded 
the observer of that among the piano-fortes in the Main Building. 
Every form of patent, from the original Howe to the most recent in- 
novation, was duly praised by its group of advocates and admirers.i 
The American Steamship Company exhibited their vessels by models, 
and eastward from their section stood a handsome pavilion contain- 
ing an unlimited assortment of saws. The department of fire-engines 
and extinguishers was adjacent; and near by, the famous Weimar 
blowing-engine and an apparatus for charging blast-furnaces were 
displayed. 

Many relics of old machinery were exhibited in various parts of 
the liall. Chief of these antiquated contrivances was a section of the 
FIRST STEAM-ENGIXE evcr used in the United States, — an odd piece 
of mechanism of the Cornish pattern, which was brought to America 
in 1753 and set in operation in a copper-mine near Newark, New 
Jersey. The first saw-maker's anvil, imported in 1819, was exhibited 
near by. In another section were several pieces of excellent work- 
manship from the mechanical department of Cornell University. An 
automatic shingle-machine, having a working capacity of twenty-five 
thousand shingles per day, was an attractive object in an adjoining 
division; and in the same sjjace the work of dovetailing, moulding, 
carving, and paneling by machinery was illustrated. Then came the 
work of barrel-making, shown by the actual processes; then an ex- 
hibit of scroll-saws in operation; then blast-furnaces by models, steam 
drills, gas apparatus of every variety, and a machine for crushing an- 
thracite coal. — -Taken all in all, the exhibit of American machinery 
was the finest display of the kind ever made by man. 

On his way from the western entrance of Machinery Hall to the 
Government Building of the United States, the observer would hardly 
fail to pause and admire the Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Fount- 
ain, one of the most beautiful of the outdoor works of Fairmount Park. 
Thence a brief walk northward on Belmont Avenue brought him to 
the edifice erected by Congress for the exhibition of the functions of 
the American Government in times of peace, and its resources in war. 
The building itself has already been described. Without, to the east, 
stood a model monitor, having the same dimensions and appearance 
as the original. In the same vicinity a huge Rodman twenty-inch 
gun and others hardly less formidable were exhibited. On the south, 
also, many pieces of heavy artillery were displayed, together with shot. 



612 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

shells, and projectiles of various kinds. Here, too, were the boats 
Faith and Advatice, usetl by De Haven and Kane in their Arctic 
voyages. Near by, two ))ostal cars, for the fast-mail service of the 
United States, were exhibited by the Post-office Department. On the 
north, the War Department made a disjday of ]>ontoons, bridge trains, 
and army wagons. Witiiin, the south division of the principal tran- 
sept was occupied with the Centennial Post-office. Here the mails 
were regularly received and distributed with systematic precision. The 
subordinate sections of this dejiartment were named respectively tlie 
divisions of Topography, of Books and Blanks, of Mail E(juipment, 
and of Stamps. In the last section a machine of unimaginable inge- 
nuity was displayed, having an automatic capacity to cut, fold, gum, 
stamp, count, and pack, the Government envelopes. 

Anotlier large display in the Government Building was made 
under the auspices of the Agricultural Bureau. The subordinate di- 
visions of this exhibit were of Statistics, Chemistry, Botany, Micros- 
copy, Entomology, and Horticulture. In the first named of these 
sections were large outline maps of the United States, showing the 
areas of forest- and farming-lands, the various products and capaci- 
ties of soils, the distribution of animals, etc. In the department of 
chemistry was a fine and well-arranged exhibit of the earths, together 
with illustrations of the processes of growth, fermentation, distilla- 
tion, and tlu^ like, as well as the methods of manufacturing veget-nljle 
products. In the botanical division the various woods of the United 
States were exhaustively exhibited. The collection was very exten- 
sive and valuable, emliracing sections of nearly every species of wood 
growing between Central America and Canada, and from Passama- 
quoddy to the Golden Gate. The microscopic section was oecujiied 
Avith a scries of charts and drawings illustrative of vegetable diseases. 
The entomological division was chiefly devoted to an exhibit of insect- 
eating birds and of what creatures soever prey upon the farmer's fruits 
and grains. In the horticultural section a display was made of those 
plants which have an economic and commercial value, such as coi-n. 
tobacco, cotton, and flax. 

The exhibit made by the Department of the Interior was com- 
posed chiefly of the well-known treasures of the Patent Office and the 
National Museum at Wasliington. In addition to these, special dis- 
plays were made by the Land and Indian offices, and by the Bureaus 
of Education and Pensions. Here, also, was cxliibited a complete set 
of the census reports from 17!tO to 1S70, inclusive. But surpassing 
all in interest and value was the magnificent exhibit made by the 



GBANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 



613 



Smithsonian Institution. This extraordinary disphiy embraced, first 
of all, a classified collection of the animals of America. These ani- 
mals were grouped according to the relation which they bear to man, 
as useful or injurious; and the exhibit included all those contrivances 
and implements which man employs in capturing them when wild, or 
subjecting and controlling them when domesticated. The collection 
illustrative of the fishery resources of the United States was equally 
complete and full of interest. In the department of American eth- 
nology an extensive exhibit was made of aboriginal im})lemcnts and 
contrivances peculiar to the primitive modes of life. The last branch 




INTKIUOK VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT Bl'IlJilNG. 

of the Smithsonian contribution was that illustrating the mineral re- 
sources of the United States — a collection of great extent and value. 

The first section under the auspices of the Treasury Department 
was devoted to the exhibition of the money, money-nuiking, and med- 
als of the national mint. The special display, made by the Light- 
house Board, of lanterns, reflectors, sea-signals, and electrical and 
calcium lights, fairly rivaled the great exhibit of similar ajiparatus 
made in the government building of France. The whole collection 
was of the highest order, and gave token that no branch of humani- 
tarian science is making more rapid strides than that which apjjcr- 
tains to the perfection of light-houses and the safety of mariners. 

Tlie Navy Department made an exhibit of torpedoes, and of the 



614 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

methods of using them in naval warfare. The collection embraced all 
of tiic patterns of that terrible engine, from the original as invented 
by Fulton, to the more modern forms produced by Ericsson and Lay 
Another section was devoted to marine arms and armor, shot, shell,-,, 
munitions, uniforms, and what weaponry soever is peculiar to men 
of-war. The Naval Observatory exhibited — besides its own publica 
tions — a fine collection of photographs and chronometers. Here, too. 
were found most of the precious relics of the Arctic explorations, fron- 
the voyage of De Haven to that of Hall. 

The exhibit made by the War Department was still larger anr/ 
more complete. In this division was arranged the splendid display 
of the Signal Service under direction of General Albert J. Meyer, 
chief signal officer of the army. Here were exhibited all of the del- 
icate instruments and tentative apparatus peculiar to the half-formed 
science of meteorology ; and here the methods of observing and re ■ 
cording the multiform and many times capricious phenomena of earthy 
air, and sky, were fully illustrated. The Engineering Corps also con- 
tributed an interesting exhibit, chiefly composed of maps and draw- 
ings illustrative of the coast, lake, and river improvements of the 
United States during the past century. The section of the Ordnance 
Service was devoted to the display of fire-arm manufacture as the 
same is carried on at the Government Armory at Springfield, IVIassa- 
chusetts. The making of cartridges was also fully illustrated by the 
actual processes. Next came the exhibits made by the Post Hospital 
and the Laboratory — full of interest after their kind — and, last of all, 
the model light-house standing at the northeast angle of the building, 
without, and not far off the tremendous fog-horn called the Siren. 

In the extensive exhibits of Agricultural Hall — varied and full 
of interest, as they were — there was, of course, a less display of hu- 
man skill and a greater revelation of the beneficence of nature. For 
here the products exhibited were, for the most part, the offspring of 
llie ground — the fruits of air, water, and sunshine. In this vast hall, 
the agency of man extended but little further than the modification and 
utilization of the gratuitous riches of the world. The display, there- 
fore, was in a large measure limited to the collection and exhibition 
of things uncommon and prodigious. — A brief summary of the objcct.s 
of principal interest in the various departments of the hall may here 
suffice. 

The products of the United States occupied more space than did 
those of all other nations combined. And the general superiority of 
American exhibits over those of foreign lands was noticeable from the 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 615 

first. la the northeastern division of the hall were placed the sec- 
tions of agricultural implements, plows being a specialty. The ex- 
hibit made by Speer and Sons of Pittsburgh, as well as that by Oliver 
Ames and Sons of North Eastoii, Massachusetts, was specially varied 
and excellent. In a section to the north were shown rakes and 
threshers of the most approved patents, and in the same collection a 
specimen of Foust's hay-lifting machine, which called forth many 
commendations. Near by stood the superb plows manufactured by 
the Oliver Chilled-Plow Company of South Bend, Indiana.* Far- 
ther on was another collection, by the Higganuni Plow Company of 
Connecticut; and then came a section of gang-plows, exhibited by 
Collins and Company of New York. 

In the department of reapers and mowers all the great makers 
were fully represented. The Sweepstakes, Harvester, McCormick, 
Champion, and Buckeye machines were s])ecially conspicuous in the 
exhibit. The Union Corn Planter, from the shops of Peoria, Illi- 
nois, attracted much attention, and the superb Westinghouse steam- 
thresher was greatly praised. An excellent reajier, called the Planet, 
was shown by the Wayne Agricultural Works of Richmond, Indiana. 
Slosser's self-loading excavator — a powerful ditch-digging machine — 
stood close by; and near the eastern entrance was exhibited one of 
the well-known Adams Power Cornshellers. 

Grain-drills next attracted attention, especially the display made 
by the Fariiers' Friend Company of Dayton, Ohio. In the south end 
of the central transept several excellent cider-mills were exhibited in 
operation — that of Boomer and Boschert leading the collection. Farm 
scales were shown by the Howe Manufacturing Company, and farm 
saw-mills by Harbert and Raymond of Philadelphia. In this vicin- 
ity two models of stables — one of wood, and the other of iron — were 
exhibited, and also some fine horse-powers from Racine, Wisconsin. 

The observer next found himself in other scenes, amid the Amer- 
ican wine-growers' exhibit, near the northern entrance. The Califor- 
nia display was first in excellence and extent. After the vintage of 
the Pacific Slope came the fine exhibits of Ohio, Missouri, and New 
York. South of the wine collection, at the bisection of the nave and 
transept, stood a large bronze fountain, throwing high its cooling 
waters ; and at the four angles round about was set the display of 
canned fruits and meats, hops, malts, and spices. Here, too, was a 

''One plow exhibited by tliis firm was perhaps the finest ever made. Tlie metallic 
I)arts were plated with nickel, and the rosewood frame was splendidly embossed with 
agricultural emblems. 



G16 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



spleii'lid exhil)it of starches, chief of which was the fine perfumed 
starch manufactured by Erkenbrecher of Cincinnati. Here, more- 
over, the appetite of whatsoever creatures live by bread was provoked 
by the bountiful disphiy of that article. Close by, in the middle of 
the avenue, stood a huge windmill, purposely old-fashioned, thirty 
teet in height, dated 177G. Next came the zoological exhibit, com- 
j)osod of stuffed animals and birds, but more especially of a magnifi- 
cent museum of plaster casts prepared by Professor Henry A. AVard 
of IJoihcster Universitv. Alona; the western wall of the buildinsr all 




INTEKI K \ U \ ^ \ 



varieties of edible fishes, out of the fresh and salt waters of the United 
States, were exhibited alive in a series of aquaria. 

The northwestern courts of the building were occupied with the 
tobacconists' pavilions. The display was very extensive, embracing 
every variety and caprice of manufacture. North of the tobacco sec- 
tion the Delta Moss Company of New Orleans exhil)ited a tree bear- 
ing a rich array of Southern moss; and the prepared product was 
shown in bales near by. A huge evaporator for drying fruits, and a 
massive road-roller driven by steam, next caught the attention ; and 
then came the sections set apart for the general display of the woods, 
grains, vegetables, and fruits of the various States — perhaps the larg- 
est and most imposing collection of such articles ever brought to- 
gether. In the court of New Hampshire were exhibited, along with 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRA TION. 61 7 

other wonders, two enormous swine, stuffed, stupid, and prodigious 
as nature and taxidermy could make them. Farther on was the fish 
and fishery exhibit of Massachusetts, and farther still, the silk-worm 
display of California. South of the central transept the rich soils of 
Iowa were exhibited in large glass cylinders ; and beyond was placed 
a fine collection of the minerals of Nevada. — Such were the objects 
of chief interest in the departments allotted to the United States. 

The exhibit of Great Britain occupied the southeast division of 
the hall. First of all, the display of condiments was equal to the 
expectancy of the most accomplished epicure. Equally commendable 
■were the exhibits of preserved meats, patent coffees and teas, prepara- 
tions of milk, sugar, and the like, presented by the Colonial Produce 
Company of London. An adjoining section contained a full assort- 
ment of the fiimous English ales ; and farther south was placed the 
def»artment of British agricultural machinery, embracing some fine 
road-wagons, portable engines, and the smaller implements peculiar 
to field, orchard, and garden. Last of all came a display of mill- 
stones, tiles, and ornaments in terra cotta. 

The Canadian section, in the southwest quarter of the hall, was 
well filled with interesting products. And the exhibit was specially 
well arranged. The front line of cases was occupied with an exten- 
sive display of root vegetables, pulse, and cereals. In the next line, 
secondary products, such as wool, feathers, and pelts, were shown ; 
and in the third tier of cases, prepared animal and vegetable mate- 
rials — cured fish, flour, salt, pickles, and cheese — were displayed. Of 
agricultural implements the list was varied and extensive. Plows, 
rivaling the best of the American collection, were exhibited by Spar- 
die of Stratford, Ontario, and by Ross of Chatham. Fine threshing- 
machines, adjustable platform reapers, and turnip-drills of superior 
pattern, were the other objects of chief interest in the collection. — 
British Columbia, also, made a creditable display of her products, 
consisting chiefly of wheat and oats, woods, barks, and woolen goods 
of Indian manufacture. 

France displayed her vintage. The exhibit was complete, em- 
bracing the whole list of vinous liquors from claret to brandy. In 
the same section were shown the unrivaled chocolates manufactured 
by Menier and Company of Paris. Vilmorin and Andrieux of the 
same city exhibited the products of their famous flower-gardens; and 
Strasbourg displayed her preserved fruits, sardines, and condiments. 
The process of manufacturing mineral waters was illustrated by Ga- 
zaubon of Paris, and near by was shown the method of bottling wine. 



618 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Millstones, crucibles, cements, and artificial stone, were displayed in 
another department; and last of all, the fine cocoons and raw silks 
for which Southern P^rance is so justly celebrated. 

Along the south wall of the building was arranged tiie exhibit 
of the German Empire. Here, again, the display of wines was pre- 
eminent. The vintage of the Rhine elicited most praise. Nor did 
Gambrinus the king look down displeased from the florid labels of 
the Bavarian and Prussian beer-mugs. The exhibit of smoking- and 
chewing-tobacco was next in extent and importance; after that, the 
display of confections. Then came a palm-tree with the mowing 
scythes of Wurtemberg for its branches ; then specimens of curled 
hair out of the shops of Frankfoi't, and then some beautiful tufts of 
wool from the sheepcotes of Silesia. 

The products of Austria and Hungary were displayed together. 
The cereals of the difierent parts of the empire were well exhibited. 
Vienna sent a fine collection of canned fruits, Pesth her boxes of 
nuts, and Prague her offering of wine and raisins. Flax, and wool, 
and liemp, were the staples of the Hungarian section, and leather of 
the exhibit of Bohemia. 

On the south side of the central transept lay the court of Russia. 
And the display was unexpectedly complete and well arranged. The 
strictly agricultural element predominated throughout the whole ex- 
hibit, only a small space being devoted to wines and liquors. Wheat, 
oats, rye, and barley — all of the finest quality — constituted the major 
part of the display, and gave token of abundant wealth in the al- 
most sunless fields of the Muscovite. The fiber-produjing plants, of 
many' and superior kinds, were shown ; and excellent candied fruits 
and confections — the contribution of Poland — compjj'.ed one of the 
most interesting divisions of the hall. 

Among the best of the exhibits made by the Southern nations, 
was that of Spain, located on tlie south side of the central transept, 
adjoining the Russian court. Here, again, the true agricultural idea 
was maintained, and the wine and liquor exhibit given a secondary 
rank. The dis])lay of Spanish cereals, fruits, pulse, and nuts, was set 
in glass-encased panels, around the sides of the court, presenting a 
fair summary of the field and garden products of the kingdom. The 
exhibit of wools was among the finest of the Exposition, and the col- 
lection of wines admirable after its kind. Specimens of the gum- and 
resin-bearing trees of the Philipj)ine Islands were exhibited in an 
adjoining section ; and near by, Havana displayed her cigars and 
chocolates. The space allotted to Portugal was well filled with her 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 619 

products, the exhibit being similar to that of Spain, and equally 
meritorious. 

The Italian court occupied the southeast division of the hall. 
The collection embraced specimens of all those products for which 
the peninsula has been immemorially famous. Here were grains, and 
fruits, and nuts ; olive-oil and raisins ; oranges, figs, and lemons ; 
citrons, pomegranates, and liquorice ; and wine — such as the Latin 
wits and poets quaifed when Britain belonged to the Druids. 

The court of the Netherlands joined that of Austria on the south. 
The Dutch display was arranged with much skill and tastefulness ; 
and neither Gambrinus nor the grape was the be-all and the end-all 
of the exhibit. But the collection was as intensely national as those 
of Germany. The products were mostly shown under the auspices 
of the Giilderland and Zealand agricultural societies. The various 
sections presented a full array of grains, plants, and pulse, as well as 
the more valuable woods, especially those used in the manufacture 
of dyes. Fine specimens of the famous Holland cheese and flour 
were shown, and in the sections to the west an assortment of choc- 
olates and cod-liver oil. The Dutch fishing interests were also well 
illustrated with tackles, seines, and boats. The beet-sugar makers of 
Arnhem made a fine display of their product, as did also the manu- 
facturers of those peculiar pungent beers, gins, and heavy liquors, 
which are so popular in Holland. 

In the court of Norway the section of greatest interest was that 
containing the exhibit of her fisheries. The collection of fishing ves- 
sels and apparatus was extensive and complete. Cured specimens of 
nearly all the fishes known in the Norwegian marts were included in 
the display. The space devoted to agricultural implements contained 
some rude but characteristic machines and tools from the fields and 
shops of the North. But the display of leather was excellent, and 
that of the waterfowl of Norway especially interesting. — Similar in 
sort were the exhibits made by Sweden and Denmark. 

In the Japanese court the principal product displayed was tea — 
a large and varied collection. Here, again, the fishing interest was 
well represented, nets and tackle being a specialty! Then came illus- 
trations of the silk culture, by the actual processes, from the worm to 
the web. The woods of Japan were displayed to good advantage as 
were also the grains and vegetables of the empire. — No exliibit of their 
agricultural resources was made by the other nations of the East. 

Among the South American States, Brazil here — as elsewhere — 
was preeminent. Before the Brazilian court stood a much admired 



620 HISTORl^ OF THE UNITED STATES. 

rustic pavilion so flecked on post and rafter with tufts of fleecy cotton 
as to look like the greatcoat of St. Nicholas. Within was the coffee 
exhibit — a full and complete display of the leading industry of the 
empire. Leaf-tobacco was also shown, and near by was an unsur- 
passed collection of the tropical woods for which Brazil is famous. 
In a section farther on were exhibited fine Brazilian sugars, rivaling 
those of Cuba and the United States. Last of all came the display of 
the silk interest of Brazil, beginning with the mild-mannered worm 
peculiar to that country, and ending with the finished fabric. — Vene- 
zuela and the Argentine Republic also made small but interesting ex- 
hibits of their resources, ranging from feathers, waxes, and native 
gums to leather-work, silk, and liquors. Here, too, Liberia made a 
display of her resources and industries. 

Entering the Mauresque doorways of the Horticultural Building, 
the rambler stopped to admire the Foley Fountain in the center of 
the hall. Around him was the luxuriance of the tropics. Fragrance 
bathed the air, and silence sat like a plumed but songless bird on 
all the motionless leaves of this green world of wonders. Here was 
the great central conservatory, filled with the choicest plants and 
richest flowers culled out of every clime where sunshine and air are 
woven into leaf and petal. Here were the date-tree and the palm, 
fern, and cactus, lemon shrub and banana — a wilderness of blossoms 
and fruits, cool and silent as the bowers visited in dreams. 

Along the sides of the main conservatory were the green-houses 
for the propagation of plants. The floors were sunk ten feet below 
the level of the main hall, and the aisle in each was a hundred feet 
in length. Passing up and down these avenues, the observer found 
on either side an indescribable array of whatever the hand of nature 
has done of quaint or beautiful in moss, or fern, or flower. No ex- 
tended account will here be attempted of the variety and beauty of this, 
the kingdom of the plants. — The collections of Horticultural Hall were 
the floral ofl'ering of the United States — a wreath for the altar of Inde- 
jtendence. But the leaves of the garland were gathered from all climes. 

No structure of Fairmount Park was more characteristic of the 
epoch than the Woman's Pavilion. The building and its contents 
illustrated one of the grandest tendencies of American civilization — 
the complete emancipation of woman. In ancient times her chains 
were forged; the Middle Age re-riveted them upon her; the Modern 
Era — even the Reformatian — has mocked her with the semblance and 
the xhow of liberty. America sets her free and lifts her to the seat of 
Jionor. 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 



621 



The collections of the Pavilion were rich and varied. The 
southeast division was set apart for the display of woman's inven- 
tions. The contrivances were mostly of such sort as appertain to, 
domestic economy and the improvement of home. Now and then, 
however, some capricious apparatus of fashion, invented in the realm 
of whim, attracted the gaze of the curious. Photographs of such 
benevolent institutions as are under the conduct of women formed an 
interesting exhibit, as did also the worsted and silk embroideries 
whicii were displayed in an adjoining court. The art collection em- 
braced some creditable — even excellent — specimens of drawing, a fair 




IMLIUI MEH (F HOKTICILTLP4L H\LL 



display of paintings, and several commendable pieces of statuary. 
In the center of the hall was an elegant printing office, where The 
New Century for Women was published and distributed during the 
Exposition. 

Tiie southwestern quarter was occupied by foreign exhibitors. 
Here, too, the display of woman's work was varied and of a high or- 
der of merit. The royal ladies of tlie Old World had contributed 
much to the excellence and interest of the exhibit. Queen Victoria's 
School of Art and Needlework made some splendid oiferings of em- 
broidery. Many contributions of similar sort were presented by the 
women of France, Sweden, and Canada. Egypt had its section of 
artistic designs in gold and silver thread-work; even the queen of 
Tunis had heard of Independence and sent some superb gold-em- 
broidered velvets as a token of her good will. The Jajianese exhibit 



622 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

was composed for the most part of silken screens, writing desks, and 
cabinets, delicately ornamented after the style of the country. The 
Brazilian women, also, had honored the pavilion with some beautiful 
specimens of gold lace, shell work, and silk and worsted embroideries. 

But it was among the art treasures of Memorial Hall that the 
stranger in Fairmount Park tarried longest: and then came again 
and again. For the variety was wellnigh infinite — the pageant ever 
new. Here were the bright ideals which flit for a moment across the 
vision of genius, and in that moment are made immortal. Here was 
a scene where the human imagination had transfused itself into the 
radiant imagery of the canvas and the imperishable forms of marble. 
Here, for a season, the scales fell from the sordid eyes of Utility, 
and the gaze was lifted up in the serener air of the True and the 
Beautiful. 

In the arrangement of the exhibits in the Art Gallery, Italy was 
given the preference. The main hall, before the southern entrance, 
was set apart for her treasures. Here the best of the Italian sculj)- 
tors were represented by their works. Caroni of Florence exhibited 
his Africaine and several other fine pieces of statuary. The Boy 
Franklin from the studio of Zocchi and Washington and his Hatchet 
from that of Eomanotti attested how much American legends are 
loved in Italy; and a colossal bust by Gaurnerio of Milan showed the 
heroic estimate placed upon the Father of his Country in that land. 
The humorous in art was well represented in The Forced Prayer by 
the same noted artist. The Milanese sculptor, Baroaglio, was repre- 
sented by several fine pieces, chief of which was a colossal statue 
called Flying Time. Hardly less attractive were the Berenice by 
Peduzzi, and Sunshine and Storm by Popatti. The Florentine TorcUi 
presented Eva St. Clair as a specimen of his work; and Ropi of 
Milan contributed a bust of Garibaldi. The Night of October 11th 
was the name of a piece by P'Amore, illustrating the discovery of 
Guanahani; while a number of child-statues were shown as the work 
of the Milanese sculptor Peroda. A Miltonic Lucifer from the studio 
of Corti was a work of the highest order of merit, as was also the 
beautiful Madonna by Romanelli. A Psyche by Pagani attracted 
much attention; and a Bacchus by Braga was greatly praised. 

Of Italian paintings — mostly copies from the famous productions 
of the old masters — the collection was large and attractive. One of 
the finest of the exhibit was Galileo before the Inquisitio7i, after Ra- 
phael. The original pictures, mostly of the Renaissance, were of va- 
rious degrees of merit, the Columbus in Chains by Fumigalli deserving 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 



623 



special praise. — Nor must mention be omitted of the famous Cas- 
tellani Museum of Antiquities, which was exhibited in the northeast- 
ern quarter of the hail — a display unsurpassed in interest by any other 
of the whole Exposition. The exhil)it embraced one of the rarest, 
most valuable, and best classified collections of ancient and mediseval 
gems, classic busts, and personal ornaments, now in existence. The 
museum was under the care of Professor Castellani himself, and the 
section was the especial haunt of scholars and antiquaries. 

The American exhibit in Memorial Hall was divided between the 




ROTUNDA OF MEMORIAL HALL. 



main edifice and the annex. The collection was very extensive, em- 
bracing several thousand works in painting and statuary. The chief 
display of paintings was made in the great north corridor of the main 
hall. Here were exhibited a vast number of pieces, ranging from 
second-class and mediocrity to the highest productions of genius. The 
eastern end of the corridor was wholly occupied Avith Rothermel's 
immense painting of The Battle of Gettysburg. Page's Farragut in 
Mobile Bay was also exhibited as a historic sketch ; and as an alle- 
gorical work, Thorpe's Westward the Star of Empire takes its Way was 
shown. Here, also, were exhibited six of Bierstadt's famous land- 
scapes — splendid scenes from the Pacific coast. Then came a num- 



624 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

beriess array of portraits, landscapes, sketches, and ideal works, bv 
well-known American artists and new aspirants for fame, amonf 
whose productions, though furnishing abundant room for comment 
and criticism, it M-oukl be invidious, within this narrow limit, to dis- 
criminate. 

Of American statuary, also, a large exhibit was made — chiefly in 
the central hall. Under the dome was set a fine group in terra cotta, 
being the allegory of America from the Albert Memorial in Hyde 
Park, London. Not fl^r off stood Connelly's Thdis with the Infant 
Achilles, much and justly admired. Story's Medea gave proof of that 
artist's genius ; and Margaret Foley's Cleopatra was a work of great 
beauty. Several busts of Americans by Americans, attested the skill 
of the artists, especially that of Charles Sumner by Preston Powers. 
In the northwest corridor was exhibited The Dying Cleopatra — a work 
of remarkable beauty and power — by Edmonia Lewis, the colored 
sculptress. 

Too much praise could hardly be bestowed upon the British col- 
lection of paintings. It was generally conceded that the exhibit, both 
in the merit of the works themselves and in the admirable grouping 
which had been effected by the managers, was the best of the Ex- 
position. If any doubt existed as to whether the first artists had 
contributed their choicest works to the American collection, no such 
doubt existed in respect to the genius of England. For here was 
The Buttle of Nasehy by Sir John Gilbert ; a Sumuier Moon by Fred- 
erick Lcighton ; The Railway Station by Powell ; Armitage's Julian 
the Apostate; Sir Edwin Landseer's Lions and Marriage of Griselda; 
Maclise's Banquet Scene in Macbeth; Sir Thomas Lawrence's Three 
Partners of the House of Baring ; William Powell Frith's Marriage 
of the Prince of Wales; "West's Death of Wolfe; and a vast number of 
landscapes, sketches, portraits, drawings, water-colors, pencilings and 
crayon-work — making a collection so complete and meritorious as to 
awaken the pride of every Briton. 

The art department of France was hardly representative of the 
genius of that country. Still, the collection embraced many pieces 
deserving of high jiraise. Among the best was Rizpah protecting the 
Bodies of her Sons, by George Becker ; The Conspiracy of the Medici, 
by Louis Adan ; and The Death of Caesar, liy Clement. Hillcmacher's 
Napoleoyi I. villi Goethe and Wicland, and Viger's Josephine in 1814, 
were notable pieces of portraiture. Leda and the Swan, by Jules 
Saintin, and The First Step in Crime, by Pierre Antigua, received 



GBANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 625 

many commendation.s, and Duran's exquisite portrait of Mademoi- 
selle Croixette of the Theatre Fran9ais was universally praised. 

In the German collection the most striking picture was Steffeck's 
Croten Prince in the Front of Battle. Louis Braun and Count Harras 
each contributed a Surrender of Sedan — striking sketches of that his- 
toric event. The Arrest of Luther, likewise by Harras, was a picture 
r.f great merit, as was also Elizabeth signing the Death Warrant of Mary 
Stuart, by Julius Schrader. In the way of humorous pictures, After 
the Qiurch Festival was exhibited by Ferdinand Meyer, and the Village 
Gossij^s by Meyer of Bremen. Nor should mention be omitted of 
The Flight of Frederick V. from Prague, by Faber du Tour — one of 
the best historic pieces in Memorial Hall. Another work of the 
same sort, and almost equally meritorious, was Briicke's Discovery of 
America. Last of all — exhibited in a separate corridor — was Wag- 
ner's great painting, A Scene in the Circus Maximus at Pome. In the 
way of portraits, that of Pauline Lucca by Begas, and of George Ban- 
croft by Gustave Richter, were worthy of special praise. 

In the eastern gallery was placed the collection of Austria. Here 
was John Makart's magnificent picture, entitled Venice Paying Hom- 
age to Catharine Comoro — a historic study of great interest. As speci- 
mens of figure-painting Ernest Ldfitte contributed a Girl of Upper 
Austria, and Aloysius Schoun a Siesta of an Oriental Woman. Of 
similar sort were the two fine pictures, A Page and ^l Girl vjith Fruit, 
by Canon of Vienna — works in imitation of Rembrandt. Friedlan- 
der was represented in the collection by Tasting the Wine, and Miiller 
by an English Garden at Palermo. — Several fine pieces of statuary 
were shown as a part of the Austrian exhibit. The principal of these 
were the busts of Francis Joseph, Maximilian I., and Charles V. To 
this collection also belonged Tlie Freedman, by Pezzicar — a bronze 
statue emblematical of the emancipation of the slaves by Lincoln. 

In the Spanish department The Landing of Columbus was the sub- 
ject of two paintings — the first by Gisbert, and the second by Puebla. 
Here also was shown a Christ on the Cross by Murillo. Columbus 
before the Monks of La Pabida was the title of a large and striking 
work by Gano. But the painting most esteemed in the Sj)anish ex- 
hibit was a superb production called Tlie Burial of St. Ljorenzo, by 
Alejo Vera of Rome. — The Portuguese painters and sculptors were 
not represented in the collections of the hall. 

The Northern nations — Sweden, Norway, Denmark — made a 
creditable showing of their art. The Swedish collection was ar- 



4U 



626 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ranged along the eastern wall of the western gallery, and was com- 
posed of several fine and some commonjjlace productions. One of 
the best was Hie Burniny of the lioyal Palace at Stockholm — a paint- 
ing by Hockert. Then came The Winter Day, The First Snow, and 
TJie Poor Pcoplc^s Burying Ground, by Baron Hermelin, the Swedish 
art commissioner at the Exposition. A fine work called Bark Mo- 
ments was exhibited by Baron Cederstrom, and Sigurd Ring l)y Se- 
verin Nilsson. Several otlier legends of the Vikings were represented 
in the works of Winge, exhibited near by; while a Market Day in 
Di'isseldorf illustrated the genius of August Jernberg. — The Norwe- 
gian collection was made up of two fine pieces by Professor Gude ; 
one excellent picture entitled A Scene in Romsdalsfiord, by Norman ; 
The Hardengerfiord , from the studio of Thurman ; and several pro- 
ductions of less conspicuous merit. — The Danish group embraced The 
Discovery of Greenland in A. D. 1000, by Rasmussen ; Two Greenland 
Pilots, by the same artist; and A Midsummer Night under Iceland's 
Rough Weather, by Wilhclm Melby. 

The Belgian pictures constituted a notable collection. Here, first 
of all, was Autumn on the Meuse, by Asselberg — a work of great ex- 
cellence; as was, also, Rome from the Tiber, by Bossuet. De KeyserV 
Dante and the Young Girls of Florence attracted much admiration 
Then came The Sentinel at the Gate of the Harem, by St. Cyr; Sundax^ 
at the Concent, by Mcerts ; Xavier jMellery's Woman of the Romau 
Campagna ; Mols's Dome of the Inralideji ; Smits's War; Stallaert's 
Cave of Diomede; and After the Rain, by Van Luppen. The Desde- 
mona of Van Kiersbilck, and The Deception by Jean Portaels, were 
works deserviug the highest praise. 

Next in interest was the art exhibit of the Netherlands. Nor 
did the collection in its entirety suifer by comparison with the best 
at the Exposition. Here again the observer was constantly reminded 
of the nationality — botii of the artist and his work. Everv thing 
was distinctly marked with the characteristics of Lowland life, method, 
and manners. First in the display were four large pieces by Altmann 
of Amsterdam — all excellent paintings — entitled respectively The 
Banquet of the Civic Guards, The Five Masters of the Drapers, The 
Masters of the Harlem Guild, and The Young Bidl — a copy from Paul 
Potter. Then came Roster's View on the Yo, Rust's Amsterdam in the 
Sixteenth Century, and A Landscape on the Mediterranean Coast by 
Hilverdink. The other principal pieces of the collection were Four 
Weeks after St. John's Day by Huybers, Bosboom's Church of Trier, 
and Mesdag's Evening on the Beach. Besides these, many minor 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 627 

paintings in the exhibit testified of the genius of the Lowland 
artists. 

In the eastern galleries of the annex were placed a few meritor- 
ious pictui'es by the painters of Brazil and Mexico. But the collec- 
tions were comparatively unimportant. Among the Brazilian produc- 
tions the best were The Defense of Cabrito and The Battle of Humaita — 
both scenes from the recent war with Paraguay. In the Mexican 
gallery the most interesting pieces were The Valley of Ilexico by Val- 
esquez, and portraits of Bartholomew de las Casas and Donna Isabella 
of Portugal. — Such is a brief survey of the art treasures of Memorial 
Hall. 

During the months of early summer, every day brought its 
throng to Fairmount Park. The enthusiasm of the people rose with 
the occasion. The fame of the great Exposition spread through all 
the land. Success had crowned the enterprise. As the Anniversary 
of Independence drew near preparations were made for an elaborate 
celebration at Philadelphia. The day came. Countless multitudes 
thronged the streets.* The city was alive with flags and banners. 
Battery answered battery with thunderous congratulation. The scene 
was set in Independence Square, in the rear of the old Hall, on the 
very spot where liberty was proclaimed a century ago. Platforms 
were erected and awnings spread above them, where four thousand in- 
vited guests could be seated to witness the ceremonies. The jieople 
crowded into the open space to the south until the whole square was 
a sea of upturned faces. Senator Ferry of Michigan, acting Vice- 
President of the United States, was the presiding officer. General 
Ilawley and other members of the Centennial Commission acted as his 
assistants. Dom Pedro II. and Prince Oscar of Sweden sat near by, 
and distinguished citizens of many nations were present. At ten 
o'clock the exercises were formally opened. Centennial hymns were 
sung, and the national airs were played by the finest bands of the 
country. Richard Henry Lee, grandson of him who oifered the fa- 
mous Resolution of Independence, then read the Declaration from the 
original manuscript. Other music followed ; and then came the read- 
ing of The National Ode by Bayard Taylor. Last of all came The 
Centennial Oration by William M. Evarts of New York. The throng 
receded, and the ceremonies were at an end. But the pageant was re- 
vived at night with a display of fireworks and a brilliant illumination 
of the city. 

*It was estimated that on the night of the 3d of July there were fully two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand strangers in Philadelphia. 



628 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The daily attendance at the Exhibition grounds during the sum- 
mer varied from five thousand to two hundred and seventy-five thou- 
sand. And the interest in the Centennial was intensified near its 
close. The whole number of visitors attending the Exposition, as 
shown by the registry of the gates, was nine million seven hundred 
and eighty-six thousand one hundred and fifty-one. The daily average 
attendance was sixty-one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight. 
The grounds were open for one hundred and fifty-eight days, and the 
total receipts for admission were three million seven hundred and 
sixty-one thousand five hundred and ninety-eight dollars. 

On the 10th of November — in accordance with the purpose of the 
Centennial Commissioners — the International Exhibition of 1876 was 
formally closed. At two o'clock in the afternoon the President of 
the United States attended by General Hawley, Director-General 
Goshorn — ujion whom for his successful management of the Exposi- 
tion too great praise can hardly be bestowed — other members of the 
Commission, and distinguished foreigners — ascended the platform, and 
the ceremonies began. Theodore Thomas's magnificent orchestra 
again furnished music worthy of the occasion. A hundred thousand 
people were present to witness the closing exercises. Brief addresses 
were delivered by the Honorable Daniel J. Morrell of Pennsylvania 
and the Honorable John Welch, president of the Board of Einance. 
The history of the Exposition and of its management was then re- 
counted in appropriate orations by Major Goshorn and General Haw- 
ley. The hymn Amerka was sung by the audience, led by the or- 
chestra ; and then President Grant arose and said: — 

"I DECLARE THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION CLOSED." 

. The valves of the great Corliss engine were shut, and the work 
was done. In its general character and results the Exposition had 
(lutranked all of its ]iredecessors, and had left an impress upon the 
minds of the American people likely to endure for a generation and 
then become a patriotic tradition with posterity.* 

*■ Since the close of the Exhibition steps have been taken to secure as far as practi- 
cable the permanmc;/ of tlie Centennial ilisplav. Machinery Hall has been purchased 
by the Common Council of Philadelphia, and is to stand intact. The Main Building; 
also, has been sold by auction, and the purchasers have decided that it shall remain as a 
permanent Exposition hall. The 'Woman's Executive Committee have voted that their 
Pavilion shall also stand in its present state. The authorities of Great Britain, Ger- 
many, and France have given their respective Government Buildings to the city of 
Philadelphia as permanent ornaments of the grounds and as tokens of international 
good will ; and it seems not unlikely that the principal features of the delightful park, 
where so many thousand people have spent the holiday hours of the Centennial sum. 
mer, will be preserved as they were during the Exposition. 




2 
a 



GJiAXT'S ADMIXISTRATION. 



620 




During the last year of President Grant's administration the 
country was disturbed by A war with the Sioux Indians. Tiiese 
fierce savages had, in 1867, made a treaty witli the United States 
agreeing to relinquisli all the territory south of the Niobrara, west of 
the one hundred and fourth meridian, and north of the forty-sixth 
parallel of latitude. By this treaty the Sioux were confined to a 
large reservation in southwestern 
Dakota, and upon this reservation 
they agreed to retire by the 1st of 
January, 1876. Meanwhile, how- 
ever, gold was discovered among 
the Black Hills — a region the 
greater part of which belonged, by 
tiie terms of the treaty, to the 
Sioux reservation. But no treaty 
t'ould keep the hungry horde of 
gold-diggers and adventurers from 
overrunning the interdicted dis- 
trict. This gave the Sioux a good 
excuse for gratifying their native ^"^^^"^ °'' ™^ '^■o^'-'^ '^''^^< !■'*'''• 

disposition by breaking over the limits of the reservation and roam- 
ing at large through Wyoming and Montana, burning houses, steal- 
ing horses, and murdering whoever opposed them. 

The Government now undertook to drive the Sioux U])()n their 
reservation. A large force of regulars, under Generals Tony and 
Crook, was sent into the mountainous country of tlie Upper Yellow- 
stone, and the savages to the number of several thousand, led liy 
their noted chieftain Sitting Bull, were crowded back against the Big 
Horn Mountains and River. Generals Custer and Reno, who were 
sent forward with the Seventh Cavalry to discover the whereabouts 
of the Indians, found them encamped in a large village extending 
for nearly three miles along the left bank of the Little Horn. On 
the ioth of June, General Custer, without waiting for reinforcements, 
charged headlong with his division into the Indian town, and Avas 
immediately surrounded by thousands of yelling warriors. Of the 
details of the struggle that ensued very little is known. For General 
Custer and every man of his command fell in the fight. The conflict 
equaled, if it did not surpass, in desperation and disaster any other 
Indian battle ever fought in America. The whole loss of the Sev- 
enth Cavalry was two hundred and sixty-one killed, and fifty-two 
wounded. General Reno, who had been engaged with the savages 



630 EISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

at the lower end of the town, held his position on the bluffs of the 
Little Horn until General Gibbon arrived with reinforcements and 
saved tiie remnant from destruction. 

Otlier divisions of the army were soon hurried to the scene of 
hostilities. During the summer and autumn the Indians were beaten 
in several engagements, and negotiations were opened looking to the 
removal of the Sioux to the Indian Territory. But still a few des- 
perate bands held out against the authority of the Government; be- 
sides, the civilized Nations of the Territory objected to having the 
fierce savages of the Xorth for their neighbors. On the '24th of No- 
vember, the Sioux M'cre decisively defeated by tlie Fourth Cavalry, 
inider Colonel !McKenzie, at a pass in the Big Horn Mountains. The 
Indians lost severely, and their village, containing a hundred and 
eeventy-three lodges, was entirely destroyed. The army now went 
into winter-quarters at various points in the hostile country; but 
active operations were still carried on by forays and expeditions during 
December and January. On tlie uth of the latter month, the sav- 
ages were again overtaken and completely routed by the division 
of Colonel ISIiles. 

Soon after this defeat, the remaining bands, under Sitting Bull and 
Crazy Horse, being able to offer no further serious resistance, escaped 
across the border and became subject to the authorities of Canada, 
Here they remained until tlie following autumn, when the Govern- 
ment opened negotiations witii them for their return to their reserva- 
tion in Dakota. A commission, headed by General Terry, met Sitting 
Bull and his warriors at Fort Walsh, on the Canadian frontier. Here 
a conference was held on the 8th of October. Fidl pardon for past 
offenses was offered to the Sioux on condition of their peaceable re- 
turn and future good behavior. But the irreconcilable Sitting Bull 
and his savage chiefs rejected the proposal with scorn; the conference 
was broken off, and the Sioux were left at large in the British domin- 
ions north of ISIilk River.* 

The excitement occasioned by the outbreak of tlie war with the 
Sioux, and even the interest felt in the Centennial eelelnation, Avas soon 
overshadowed l)y the agitation of the ))ublic mind, attendant ujion tlie 
tweiitv-third Presidential election. Before the close of .June tlie national 
conveutions were held and standanl-bearers selected by the two leading 
p ilitieal parties. General Hutherfu-d B. Hayes of Ohio and William 

■•» The result of the Fort Walsh CdntVivnce w.is by no means (listasli.'lul tu the fiovern- 
miMt. Bv formally refusing to return to their reservation, the Indians virtually re- 
noiinee<l all relations with the United States, and the authorities were tlius, by an unex- 
jieeted stroke of good fortune, freed from ihe whole complication. Canada v.\:\ hardly 
b.^ con-rT!u!at?.l on such nii ar'_'ossion to h.'r popilation! 



GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. 631 

A. Wheeler of New York, were cho.sen as candidates by the Repub- 
licans; Samuel J. Tilden of New York and Thomas A. Hendricks of 
Indiana, by the Democrats. A third — the Independent Green- 
back — party also appeared, and presented as candidates Peter Cooper 
of New York and Samuel F. Gary of Ohio. The canvass began early 
and with great spirit. The battle-cry of the Democratic party was 
Reform — reform in the public service and in all the methods of ad- 
ministration. For it was alleged tliat many of the departments of 
the GcJ^ernment and the officers presiding therein had become cor- 
rupt in practice and in fact. The Republicans answered back with 
the cry oi Reform, — averring a willingness and an anxiety to correct 
public abuses of whatsoever sort, and to bring to condign punishment 
all who dared to prostitute the high places of honor to base uses. To 
this it was added that the nationality of the United States, as against 
tiie doctrine of State sovereignty, must bo upheld, and that the rights 
of the colored people of the South must be protected witli additioua! 
safeguards. The Independent party echoed the cry of Reform — mon- 
etary reform first, and all other reforms afterwards. For it was al- 
leged by the leaders of this party that the measure of redeeming the 
national legal-tenders and other obligations of the United States in 
gold — which measure was advocated by both the other parties — was 
u project unjust to the debtor-class, iniquitous in itself, and impossi- 
ble of accomplishment. And it was further argued by the Independ- 
ents that the money-idea itself ought to be revolutionized, and that 
a national paper currency ought to be provided by the Government, 
and be based, not on specie, but on a bond bearing a low rate of 
interest, and interconvertible, at the ojrtion of the holder, with the 
currency itself. But the advocates of this theory had only a slight 
political organization, and did not succeed in securing a single elect- 
oral vote. The real contest lay — as it had done for twenty years — 
between the Republicans and the Democrats. The canvass drew to a 
close. The election was held , the general result was ascertained, nnd 
/loth parties claimed the victory! The election was so eveniy balanced 
between the two candidates, there had been so much irregularity in 
the voting and subsequent electoral proceedings in the States of 
Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon, and the powers of 
Congress over the votes of such States were so vaguely defined, under 
existing legislation, that no certain declaration of the result could be 
made. The public mind was confounded with perplexity and excite- 
ment ; and more than once were heard the ominous threatenings of 
civil war. 



632 mSTORY OF THE UNITED .STATES. 

Wlu'ii Congress oonvcned in December, the whole question oi 
tiie disi)uteil presidency came at once before that body lor adjust- 
ment. The situation was seriously complicated by the political 
complexion of the Senate and the House of liepresentatives. In the 
former body the Kepublicans had a majority sufficient to control 
its action ; while in the House the Democratic majority was still 
more decisive and etjually willful. The debates began and seemed 
likel}- to be interminable. The question at issue was as to whether 
the electoral votes of the several States should, at the proper time, be 
opened and counted by the presiding officer of the Senate, in accord- 
ance with the immemorial and constitutional usage in such cases, or 
whether,- in view of the existence of duplicate and spurious returns 
from some of the States, and of alleged gross irregularities and frauds 
in others, some additional court ought to be constituted to open and 
count the ballots. Meanwhile the necessity of doing soiiuihing became 
more and more imperative. The great merchants and manufacturers 
of the country and the boards of trade in the ])rincij>al cities grew 
clamorous for a speedy and peaceable adjustment of the difficulty. 
The spirit of compromise gained ground; and after much debating in 
Congress it was agreed that all the disputed election returns should be 
referred to A Joint High Commission, consisting of five members to 
be chosen from the United States Senate, five from the House of 
liepresentatives, and five from the Supreme Court. The judgment of 
this tribunal should be final in all matters referred thereto for de- 
cision. The Commission was accordingly constituted. The counting 
was begun as usual in the presence of the Senate and the House of 
Representatives. When the disputed and duplicate returns were 
reached they were referred, State by State, to the Joint High Commis- 
sion , and on the 2d of March, only Iwo days before the time for the in- 
augurntion, a final decision was rendered. The Republican candidates 
were declared elected. One hundred and eighty-five electoral votes 
were cast for Hayes and Wheeler, and one hundred and eighty-four foi 
Tilden and Hendricks. The greatest political ci'isis in the history of 
the country passed harmlessly by without violence or bloodshed. 



HA YES' S AD MINIS TEA TION. 



6aa 



CHAPTER LXIX. 

HA YES S ADMINISTRATION, 1877-lSSl. 

RUTHEEFORD B. HAYES, nineteenth President of the United 
States, was born in Delaware, Ohio, on the 4tii day of October, 
1822. His ancestors were soldiers of the Revolution. His primary 
education was received in tlie public schools. Afterwards, his studies 

were extended 
to Greek and 
Latin at the 
Nor w a 1 k 
Academy; and 
in 1837 he 
became a stu- 
dent at Webb's 
p r e p a r a t o r y 
school, at Mid- 
dletown, Con- 
necticut. In 
the following 
year, he en- 
t e r e d the 
Fresh m a n 
class at Ken- 
yon College, 
and in 1842 
was graduated 
from that in- 
stitution with 
the highest 

honors of his class. Three years after his graduation, he completed 
his legal studies at Harvard University, and soon afterward began 
the practice of his profession, first at Marietta, then at Fremont 
and finally as city solicitor, in Cincinnati. Here he won distinguished 
reputation as a lawyer. During the Civil War he performed much 
honorable service in the Union cause, rose to the rank of major- 







PRESIDENT HAYES. 



834 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

general, and in 1864, while still in the field, was elected to Congress. 
Three years later he was chosen governor of his native State, and 
was reelected in 1869, and again in 1875. At the Cincinnati conven- 
tion of 1876, he had the good fortune to be nominated for the presi- 
dency over several of the most eminent men of the nation. 

In his inaugural address, delivered on the 5th of March,* President 
Haves indicated the policy of his administration. The patriotic and 
conciliatory utterances of the address did much to quiet the bitter 
spirit of partisanship which for many months had disturbed the 
country. The distracted South was assured of right purposes on the 
part of the new chief-magistrate ; a radical reform in the civil service 
was avowed as a part of his policy ; and a speedy return to specie 
payments was recommended as the final cure for the deranged finances 
of the nation. The immediate effect of these assurances — so evidently 
made in all good taith and honesty — was to rally around the incipient 
administration the better part of all the parties and to introduce a new 
"Era of Good Feeling" as peaceable and beneficent in its character 
as the former turbuhMice had been exciting and dangerous. 

On the 8th of March, the President named the members of his 
cabinet. Here, again, he marked out a new departure in the policy 
of the government. For the cabinet, though exceptionably able and 
statesmanlike, was noticeably non-partisan in its character. As secre- 
tary of state AYilliam M. Evai'ts, of New York, was chosen; John 
Sherman, of Ohio, was named as secretary of the treasury; George W. 
McCrary, of Iowa, secretary of war; Richard W. Thompson, of 
Indiana, secretary of the navy; Carl Scliurz, of Missouri, secretary of 
the interior; Charles E. Devens, of Massachusetts, attorney-general; 
and David M. Key, of Tennessee, postmaster-general. These nomina- 
tions were duly ratified by the Senate ; and the new administration 
and the new century of the republic were ushered in together. 

In the summer of 1877 occurred the great labor disturbance 
known as THE Eaileoat* Strike. For several years the mining 
districts of the country had been vexed with disputes and outbreaks 
iiaving their origin in the question of wages. The manufiicturing 
towns and cities had witnessed similar troubles, and the great cor- 
porations having control of the lines of travel and commerce were 
frequently brought to a stand-still by the determined opposition of 
their employes. The workingmen and the capitalists of the country 

» The 4(A of March fell on Sunday. The same thing has happened in the following 
years: 1753, 1781, 1821 (Monroe's inauguration, second term), 1849 (Taylor's inaug- 
uration), 1877 (Hayes's inauguration); and the same will hereafter occur as follows: 
191" i9a:>. 1073, 2001, 2029, 2057, 2085. 2125, 2153. 



HAYES'S ADMINISTRATION. G35 

had for some time maintained towards each other a kind of armed 
neutrality alike hurtful to the interests of both. In the spring of this 
year, the managers of the great railways leading from the seaboard 
to the West declared a reduction of ten per cent in the wages of their 
workmen. This measure, which was to take effect at the middle of 
July, was violently resisted by the employes of the companies, and 
the most active steps were taken to prevent its success. The workmen 
of the various roads entered into combinations, and the officers stood 
firm. On the 16th of July, the employes of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad left their posts and gathered such strength in Baltimore and 
at Martinsburg, West Virginia, as to prevent the running of trains 
and set the authorities at defiance. The militia was called out by 
Governor Matthews and sent to Martinsburg, but was soon dispersed 
bv the strikers who, for the time, remained masters of the line. The 
President then ordered General French to the scene with a body of 
regulars, and the blockade of the load was raised. On tlie 20th of 
the month, a terrible tumult occurred in Baltimore; but the troops 
succeeded iu scattering the rioters of whom nine were killed and 
many wounded. 

Meanwhile the strike spread everywhere. In less than a week 
tiie trains had been stopped on all the important roads between the 
Hudson and the Mississippi. E.xcept in the cotton-growing States the 
insurrection was universal. Travel ceased, freights perished en route, 
business was paralyzed. In Pittsburgh the strikers, rioters, and dan- 
gerous classes gathering in a mob to the number of twenty thousand, 
obtained complete control of the city and for two days held a reign 
of terror unparalleled in the history of the country. The lawless 
violence and madness of the scene recalled the fiery days of the 
French Revolution. The Union Depot and all the machine shops 
and other railroad buildings of the city were burned. A hundred and 
twenty-five locomotives, and two thousand five hundred cars laden 
with valuable cargoes, were destroyed amid the wildest havoc and 
uproar. The insurrection was finally sup])ressed by the regular troops 
and the Pennsylvania militia, but not until nearly a hundred lives had 
been lost and property destroyed to the value of more than three mill- 
ions of dollars. 

On the 25th of the month, a similar but less terrible riot occurred 
at Chicago. In this tumult fifteen of the insurgents were killed by 
the military of the city. On th« next day, St. Louis was for some 
hours in peril of the mob. San Francisco was at the same time the 
scene of a dangerous outbreak which was here directed against the 



636 HLSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Chinese immigrants and the managers of tlie lumber yards. Cincin" 
nati, Columbus, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne were for 
a while in danger, but escaped without serious loss of life or property. 
By tiie close of the month, the alarming insurrection was at an end. 
Business and travel Ho wed back into their usual channels; but the 
sudden outbreak had given a great shock to the public mind, and 
revealed a hidden peril to American institutions. 

In the mean time, a war had broken out with the Nez Perce 
Indians of Idaho. This tribe of natives had been known to the Gov- 
ernment since 1806, when the first treaty was made with them by the 
explorers, Lewis and Clarke. Afterwards, missionary stations were 
established among them, and the nation remained on friendly terms 
until after the war witli Mexico. In 1854 the authorities of the 
L^nited States, purcliascd a parr of the Nez Perce territory, large reser- 
vations being; made in North-western Idaho and North-eastern Oregon ; 
but some of the chiefs refused to ratify the purchase and remained at 
large. This was the beginning of difficulties. 

The war began with the usual depredations by the Indians. Gen- 
eral Howard, commanding the Department of the Columbia, marched 
against them with a small force of regulars; but the Nez Percys, led 
by their noted chieftain Joseph, fled first in this direction, and then in 
that, avoiding battle. Daring the greater part of the summer the pur- 
suit continued; still the Indians could not lie overtaken. In the fall 
they were chased through the mountains into Northern Montana, where 
they were confronted bv other troops commanded by Colonel ]\Iiles. 

The Nez Perc6s, thus hemmed in, were next driven across the 
Missouri River, near the mouth of the Musselsiiell, and were finally 
surrounded in their camp, north of the Bear Paw Mountains. Here, 
on the 4th of October, they were attacked by the forces of Colonel 
j\Iile^. A hard battle was fought, and the Indians were completely 
routed. Only a few, led by the chief White Bird, escaped. All 
the rest were either killed or made prisoners. Three hundred and 
seventy-five of the captive Nez Percys were brought back to the 
American post on the Missouri. The troops of General Howard had 
made forced marches through a mountainous country for a distance of 
sixteen hundred miles.' — The campaign was crowned with complete 
success. 

During the year 1877, the public mind was greatly agitated 
concerning the Remonetization of Silver. By the first coinage 
regulations of the United States, the standard unit of value was the 
American Silver Dollar, containing three hundred and seventy-one 



HAYES'S ADMINISTRATION. 637 

and one-fourth grains of pure silver. From the date of the adoption 
of this standard, in 1792, until 1873, the quantity of pure metal in this 
standard unit had never been changed, though the amount of alloy 
contained in the dollar was several times altered. Meanwhile, in 1849, 
a gold dollar was added to the coinage, and from that time forth the 
standard unit of value existed in both metals. In the years 1873- 
'74, at a time when, owing to the premium on gold and silver, both 
metals were out of circulation, a series of acts were adopted by Con- 
gress bearing upon the standard unit of value, whereby the legal- 
tender quality of silver was first abridged and then abolished. These 
enactments were completed by the report of the Coinage Committee in 
1874, by which the silver dollar was finally omitted from the list of 
coins to be struck at the national mints. The general effect of these 
acts was to leave the gold dollar of twenty-three and twenty-two- 
lumdredths grains the single standard unit of value in the United 
States. 

In January of 1875, the Resumption Act was passed by Con- 
gress, whereby it was declared that on the 1st of January, 1879, the 
Government of the United States should begin to redeem its outstand- 
ing legal-tender notes in coin. As the time for resumption drew near, 
and the premium on gold fell off, the question was raised as to the 
meaning of "coin" in the act for resuming specie payments; and now, 
for the first time the attention of the people at large was aroused to 
the fact that by the acts of 1873-'74, the privilege of paying debts in 
silver had been taken away, and that after the beginning of 1879 all 
obligations must be discharged according to the measure of the gold 
dollar only. A great agitation followed. The cry for the remonetiza- 
tion of silver was heard everywhere. The question reached the Gov- 
ernment, and early in 1878 a measure was passed by Congress for the 
restoration of the legal-tender quality of the old silver dollar, and pro- 
viding for the compulsory coinage of that unit at the mints at a rate 
of not less than two millions of dollars a month. The President re- 
turned the bill with his objections, but the veto was crushed under a 
tremendous majority; for nearly three-fourths of the members of Con- 
gress, without respect to party affiliations, gave their support to tho 
measure,' and the old double standard of values was restored. 

In the summer of 1878, several of the Gulf States were scourged 
with a Yellow Fever Epidemic, unparalleled in the history of the 
country. The disease made its appearance in New Orleans in the 
latter part of May, and from thence was quickly scattered among the 
other towns along the Mississippi. Unfortunately, the attention of 



638 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the people in the Gulf country had been but little gi\en to sanitary 
precautions, and the Southern cities were nearly all in a condition to 
invite the presence of the scourge. The terror soon spread from town 
to town, and the people began to fly from the pestilence. The cities 
of Memphis and Grenada became a scene of desolation. At Vicks- 
burgh the ravages of the ]>lague were almost equally terrible; and 
even in the parish-towns remote from the river, and as far north at 
Nashville and Louisville, tlie horrors of the scourge were felt. All 
summer long the disease held on unabated. The helpless populations 
along the Lower Mississippi languished and died by thousands. A 
regular system of contributions was established in the Northern States, 
and men and treasure were poured out Avithout stint to relieve the 
suffering South. The efforts of the Howard Association at New Or- 
leans, Memphis, and elsewhere, were almost unequaled in heroism 
and sacrifice. After more than twenty thousand people had fallen 
victims to the plague, the grateful frosts of October came at la.st and 
ended the pestilence. 

By the XVIIIth Article of the Treaty of Washington,* it was 
agreed that the right of the inhabitants of the United States in cer- 
tain sea-fisheries which had hitherto belonged exclusively to the sub- 
jects of Great Britain, should be acknowledged and maintained. It 
was conceded, moreover, that the privilege of taking fish of every 
kind — except shell-fish — on the sea-coasts and shores, and in the 
bays, harbors, and creeks of the provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, 
New Brunswick, Prince Edward's Island, and the islands thereunto 
adjacent, without restriction as to distance from the shore, should be 
guaranteed to American fishermen, without ])rejudice or partiality. 
On the other hand, the government of the United States agreed to 
relinquish the duties which had hitherto been charged on certain 
kinds of fish imported by British subjects into American iiarbors. 
Several other concessions of minor importance were mutually made 
by the contracting parties; and in order to balance any discrejiancy 
that might appear in the aggregate of svich concessions, and to make 
the settlement of a vexed question full, fair, and final, it was further 
agreed that any total advantage to the United States arising from 
the treaty, might be compensated by a sum in gross to be paid by the 
American government to Great Britain. And in order to determine 
what such sum should be, a Commission was provided for, the same 
to consist of one commissioner to be appointed by the Queen, one 
by the President, and a third (provided the Queen and the Presi- 

•■ See page 556. • 



HAYEh'S ADMINISTRATION. 639 

(lent should not agree on a third) by the Austrian ambassador at 
the Court of St. James!* Accordingly, in the summer of 1877, the 
Commission was constituted, and the sittings began at Halifax. But 
iittle attention was given to the proceedings of the body until No- 
vember, when the country was startled by the announcement that 
by the casting vote of Mr. Delfosse, Belgian minister to the United 
States, who had been named as third commissioner by the Atistrian 
ambassador at London, an award of five millions of dollars had been 
made against the American government ! The decision was received 
with general surprise, both in the United States and in Europe; 
and for awhile it seemed probable that the arbitration might be 
renounced as iniquitous. It was decided, however, that the award, 
whether just or unjust, would better stand; and accordingly, in 
November, 1878, the amount was paid — not without great popular 
dissatisfaction — to the Britisli government. 

The year 1878 witnessed the establishment of a resident Chinese 
EMBASSY at Washington. For twenty years the great and liberal treaty 
negotiated by Anson Burlingame had been in force between the United 
States and China. Under the protection of this compact, the commer- 
cial relations of the two countries had been vastly extended, and a knowl- 
edge of the institutions, manners, and customs prevalent in the Celes- 
tial Empire so widely diifused as to break down in some measure the 
race-prejudice existing against the Mongolians. The enlightened 
policy of the reigning emperor had also contributed to establish more 
friendly intercourse with the United States, and to promote such 
measures as should make that intercourse lasting. The idea of send- 
ing resident ambassadors to the American government had been en- 
tertained for several years. The emperor had been assured that the 
people of China — more particularly iier ministers — would be received 
with all the courtesy shown to the most favored nation. The officers 
chosen by the imperial government as its representatives in the United 
States were Chen Lan Pin, minister plenipotentiary, Yung Wing, 
assistant envoy, and Yung Tsang Siang, secretary of legation. On 
the 28th of September the embassy was received by the President. 

"A strange and inexplicable provision. As a matter of fact, it came to pass that the 
Dian who by the terms of the treaty held the power of appointing, and who did appoint, 
•.he umpire in the Halifax Commission, was Count Von Beust, a Bourbon of the Bour- 
bons in politics, a Saxon renegade, an upholder of the House of Hapsburg by choice, 
and a hater of all republican institutions. It thus happened that a question which had 
proved too much for the Joint High Commission itself, was remanded for settlement to 
a political adventurer temporarily resident in London I To understand the proceeding 
requires the wisdom of a — statesman! 



640 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The ceremonies of the occasion were among the most novel and in- 
teresting ever witnessed in ^^'asllington. The speech of Chen Lan 
Pin was equal in dignity and appropriateness to the best efforts of a 
European diplomatist. Addressing the President the Chinese minister 
said : 

"Mk. President: His Majesty, the Emperor of China, in ap- 
pointing us to reside at Washington as ministers, instructed us to 
present your Excellency his salutations, and to express his assurances 
of friendship for you and the people of the United States. His 
Majesty hopes that your administration may be one of signal success, 
and that it may bring lasting peace and prosperity to the whole 
country. On a former occasion tlie Chinese government had the 
honor to send an embassy to Washington on a special mission, and 
the results were most beneficent. His Majesty cherishes the hope 
that this embassy will not only be the means of establishing on a 
firm basis the amicable relations of the two countries, but may also 
be the starting-point of a new diplomatic era which will eventually 
unite the East and West under an enlightened and progressive civil- 
ization." 

The history of modern times contains many 2>leasing evidences 
of the growing estimate placed by civilized states upon the value of 
human life. In the legislation of Congress several important acts 
bear witness to the general interest felt in the United States on the 
subject of better protection for those who are exposed by land and sea. 
The question of affording adequate succor to shipwrecked sailors has 
especially engrossed the attention of the government, and many meas- 
ures have l)een proposed with a view of giving greater security to 
"them that go down to the sea in ships." During the last session of 
the Forty-fifth Congress a bill was brought forward by S. S. Cox, of 
New York, for the reorganization of the IjIfe-Saving Service of 
THE United States, under the patronage and control of the govern- 
ment. This service had existed as a private enterprise since 1871. 
The plan propo.sed and adopted June 18, 1878, embraced the establish- 
ment of regular stations and light-houses on all the exposed parts of 
the Atlantic coast and along the great lakes. Each station was to be 
manned by a band of surfmen experienced in the dangers peculiar to 
the shore in times of storms, and drilled in the best methods of rescue 
and resuscitation. Boats of the most approved pattern — capable of sur- 
viving any storm that ever lashed the sea — were provided and 
equipped. A hundred appliances and inventions suggested by the 
wants of the service — life-cars with hawsers, and mortars for firing 



HAYES'S ADMINISTRATION. 641 

shot-lines into vessels foundering at a distance from the shore — were 
supplied and their use skillfully taught to tlie brave men who were 
employed at the stations. The success of the enterprise has been so 
great as to reflect the highest credit on its promoters. The number of 
lives saved through the direct agency of the service reaches to thou- 
sands annually, and the amount of human suffering and distress alleviated 
by this beneficent movement is beyond computation. So carefully are 
the exposed coasts of the United States now guarded that it is almost 
impossible for a foundering ship to be driven within sight of the shore 
without at once beholding through the darkness of the otherwise hope- 
less night the sudden glare of the red-light signal flaming up from the 
beach, telling the story of friends near by and rescue soon to come. 

On the 1st of January, 1879, THE Resumption of Specie Pay- 
ments was formally accomplished by the treasury of the United 
States. For more than seventeen years, owing to the disorders arising 
from the Civil War, gold and silver coin had been at a premium 
over the legal-tender notes of the Government. During this whole 
period the monetary affairs of the Nation had been in a state of dis- 
traction. As a matter of fact, the monetary unit had been so fluctu- 
ating as to render legitimate business almost imjiossible. The actual 
purchasing power of a dollar could hardly be predicted from one 
week to another. Resulting from this, a spirit of rampant specula- 
tion had taken possession of most of the market values of the coun- 
try. The lawful transactions of the street, carried forward in obedi- 
ence to the plain principles of political economy, suffered shipwreck, 
while parvenu statesmen gave lectures on the nature of debt and the 
evils of overproduction ! After the passage of the Resumption Act, 
in 1875, owing to the steady and rapid appreciation of the value of 
the monetary unit, the debtor classes of the country entered a period 
of great liardship; for their indebtedness constantly augmented in a 
ratio beyond the probability, if not the possibility, of payment. It 
was an epoch of financial ruin and bankruptcy, which was only 
checked, but not ended, by the abrogation of the Bankrupt Act, in 
1878. With the near approach of Resumption, however, a certain 
degree of confidence supervened ; and the actual accomjjlishment of 
the fact was hailed by many as the omen of better times. 

The presidential election of 1880 was accompanied with the usual 
excitement attendant upon great political struggles in the United 
States. The congressional elections of 1878 had generally gone 
against the Republican party, in5omuch that in both houses of the 
Forty-sixth Congress the Democrats had a clear majority. It was 



G42 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

therefore not unreasonable to exj^ect that in tlie impending contest for 
the presidency the Democratic party woukl prove successful. The 
leaders of this party were hopeful of success and entered the campaign 
with renewed zeal and energy. The Republican national convention 
was held in Chicago on the ■2d and 3d of June. A platform of prin- 
cijiles was adopted largely retrospective. The history of the pait> 
during the twenty years of its supremacy in the government wa- 
recited as the best reason why its lease of power .should be continued 
by the people. Tlie platform reaffirmed and emphasized the doctrine 
of nationality as opposed to the theory of states' rights; declared in 
favor of popular education; advocated a system of discriminating duties- 
in favor of American industries; called on Congress to limit Chinese 
immigration; avoided the question of finance; complimented the 
administrati(5n of President Hayes; and arraigned the Democratic 
party as unpatriotic in its principles and fraudulent in its practices. 
Upon this platform- — -after the greater part of two days had been con- 
sumed in balloting — General James A. Garfield, of Ohio, was nom- 
inated for President, and Chester A. Arthur, of New York, for Vice- 
President. 

The Democratic national convention assembled in Cincinnati, on 
the 22d of June. The platform of principles declared adherence to the 
doctrines and traditions of the party; opposed the tendency to central- 
ization in the government; adhered to gold and silver money and 
paper convertible into coin; advocated a tariff for revenue only; pro- 
claimed a free ballot; denounced the administration as the creature of 
a conspiracy; opposed the presence of troops at the polls; compli- 
mented Samuel J. Tilden for his patriotism ; declared for free ships 
and an amendment to the Burlingame treaty as against Chinese im- 
migration ; and appealed to the acts of the Forty-sixth Congress as 
proof and illustration of Democratic economy and wisdom. After 
adopting this platform tlie convention nominated for the presidency 
General Winfield S. Hancock, of New York, and for the vice-presi- 
dency AVilliam H. English, of Indiana. 

Meanwhile the National Greenback party had held a convention 
in Chicago, on the 9th of June, and nominated as standard-bearers 
General James B. "Weaver, of Iowa, for President, and General Benja- 
min J. Chambers, of Texas, for Vice-President. The platform of 
principles declared in favor of the rights of the laborer, as against the 
exactions of capital; denounced monopolies and syndicates; proclaimed 
the sovereign power of the government over the coinage of metallia 
and the issuance of paper money; advocated the abolition of the 



HA r£S','i ADMINISTRA TION. 643 

National banking system and the substitution of legal-tender currency; 
declared for the payment of the bonded debt of the United States as 
against all refunding schemes; denounced land-grants; opposed 
Chinese immigration and an increase of the standing army; favored 
the equal taxation of all property and unrestricted suftrage; demanded 
reform in the methods of congressional proceedings; and appealed ibr 
support to the sense of justice in the American jieople. 

The canvass had not jirogressed far until it became evident tliat 
the contest lay between the Republican and the Democratic party, and 
that the long-standing sectional division into Nortli and South was 
likely once more to decide the contest in favor of the former. That 
part of the Democratic platform which declared for a tariff for revenue 
only, alarmed the manufacturing interests and consolidated them in 
suj)port of the Republican candidates. The banking and bond-hold- 
ing classes rallied with great unanimity to the same .standard, and tiie 
old war spirit, aroused at the appearance of a ".solid South" insured a 
solid North against the Democracy. The election resulted in the choice 
of Garfield and Arthur. Two hundred and fourteen electoral vote.s, 
embracing those of all the Northern States except New Jersey, Nevada, 
and four out of the five votes of California, were cast for the Republican 
candidates, and one hundred and fifty-five votes, including those of 
V ry Southern State, were given to Hancock and Engli.sh. The can- 
didates of the National party secured no electoral votes, though the 
popular vote given to Weaver and Chambers aggregated 307,000 as 
against 81,000 cast for Cooper and Cary in 1876. 

The administration of President Hayes and the last session of tiie 
Forty-sixth Congress expired together on the 4th of March, 1881. 
The closing session had been chiefly occupied with the matter of 
refunding the national debt. About seven hundred and fifty millions 
of dollars of five and six per cent, bonds became due during the year; 
and to provide for the payment or refunding of this large sum was the 
most important matter claiming the attention of Congress. Late in 
the session a bill was passed by that body providing for the issuance 
by the government of new bonds of two classes, both bearing three 
]>er cent.; the first class payable in from five to twenty years, and the 
second class in from one to ten years. The latter bonds were to be 
issued in small denominations, adapted to the conditions of a popular 
loan. One provision of the bill required the national banks holding 
five and six per cent, bonds to surrender the same — the bonds having 
fallen due — and to receive in.stead the new three per cents. This 
clause of the law aroused the antagonism of the bank"- and by every 



tU4 HISroRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

possible laeans they sought to prevent the passage of the bill. On the 
last day of the session, the measure having been adopted by both 
houses of Congress, the act was laid Ix'fore the President for his 
approval, which was witiilidd. A veto message was returned to Con- 
gress; the advocates of the bill being unable to command a two-third's 
majority in its favor, the bill failed to become a law and the session 
closed without any jirovision for the refunding of the 750,000,000 
dollars of bonds falling due in 1881. 

Soon after retiring from the presidency, General Grant with hi.s 
family and a company of personal friends, set out to visit the countries 
of Europe and Asia, and to make a tour of the world. Though the 
expedition was intended to be private it could but attract the most 
conspicuous attention both at home and abroad. The departure from 
Philadelphia on the 17th of May, 1877, was the beginning of a pageant 
which, in its duration and magnificence, was never before extended to 
any citizen of any nation of the earth. Wherever the distinguished ex> 
President went he was welcomed with huzzas and dismissed with 
plaudits. First in England — at Liverpool, Manchester, London — 
and afterwards, in midsummer, in Belgium, Switzerland, Prussia, 
and France, everywhere the General's coming was announced by 
the thunder of cannon, the tlironging of multitudes, and a chorus 
of cheers. A short stay in Italy was followed by a voyage to Alexan^ 
dria, and a brief sojourn in Egypt. Thence the company proceeded to 
Palestine and afterwards to Greece. The following spring found the 
ex-President and his party again in Italy — at Rome, Florence, Venice, 
and Milan; and the summer carried them into Denmark, Sweden, and 
Norway. The next countries visited were Austria and Russia, while 
for the winter the distinguished tourists chose the south of France and 
Spain. Ireland was visited, and in January of 1879 the company era- 
barked from Marseilles for the East. The following year was spent in 
visiting the great countries of Asia — India first; then Burmah and 
Siam; then China; and then Japan. In the fall of 1879 the party 
returned to San Francisco, bearing with them the highest tokens of 
esteem which the great nations of the Old World could bestow upon 
the honored representative of the civilization of the New. 

The census of 1880 was undertaken with more system and care 
than ever before in the history of the country. The work was entrusted 
to the general superintendency of Professor Francis A. Walker, under 
whose direction the admirable census of 1870 was conducted. During 
the decade the same astounding progress M'hich had marked the pre- 
vious historv of the United States was more than ever illustrated. I"* 



HAYES'S ADMINISTRATION. 



64.3 



every source of national power, in every element of national vigor, the 
development of the country had continued without abatement. The 
total population of the states and territories of the Union now amounted 
to 50,152,866 — an increase since 1870 of more than a milVton inhabit- 
ants a year! New York was still the leading state, having a popula- 
tion of 5,083,173. Nevada was least populous, showing an enumera- 
tion of but 62,265. Of the 11,584,188 added to the jropulation sinci 
the census of 1870, 2,246,551 had been contributed by immigration, 
of whom about 85,000 annually came from Germany alone. The 
number of cities having a population of over 100,000 inhabitants had 
increased during the decade from fourteen to twenty.* The center 
of population had moved westward about fifty miles, and now rested 
at the city of Cincinnati. 

The statistics of trade and indu.stry were likewise of a sort to 
gratify patriotism, if not to excite national pride. The current of the 
precious metals which for many years had flowed constantly from the 
United States to foreign countries turned strongly, in 1880, towards 
America. The importation of specie during the year just mentioned 
amounted to $93,034,310, while the exportation of the same during 
the year reached only $17,142,199. During the greater part of the 
period covered by the census abundant crops had followed in almost 
unbroken succes.sion, and the overplus in the great staples peculiar to 
our soil and climate had gone to enrich the country, and to .stimulate 
to an unusual degree those fundamental industries upon which national 
perpetuity and individual happiness are ultimately founded. f 



* The following table will show the population and rate of increase in the ten lead- 
ing cities in the United States, according to the censuses of 1870 and 1880: 



City. 


State. 


Population 


Per cent, 
of increa.se. 


New York . . . 
Philadelphia . . 
Brooklyn .... 
St. Louis .... 
Chicago .... 
Baltimore .... 

Boston 

Cincinnati .... 
New Orleans . . . 
San Francisco . . 


New York .... 
Pennsylvania . . 
New York .... 
Missouri .... 

Illinois 

Maryland .... 
Massachusetts 

Ohio 

Louisiana .... 
California .... 


1870 

942,292 
674,022 
396,099 
310,864 
298,977 
267,354 
250,526 
216,239 
191,418 
149,473 


1880 

1,206,590 
846,984 
586,689 
350,522 
503,304 
333,190 
362,535 
255,708 
216,140 
233,956 


28 
25 
48 
13 
72 
24 
44 
22 
13 
56 



t At the date of sending this edition to the press, only the preliminary results of the 
census of 1880 have been given to the public. 



646 UIsrOJtY OP THE UNITED STATES. 

During the administration of President Hayes several eminent 
Americans passed from tlie scene of their earthly activities. On the 
1st of November, 1S77, tlie distinguished Senator Oliver P. Morton, 
of Indiana, after battling for many years against the deadl}^ en- 
croachments of paralysis, died at his home in Indianaj^olis. His 
death, though not unforeseen, was mueli lamented. Still more 
universally felt was the loss of the great poet and journalist, William 
Cullen Bryant, who, on the 12th of June, 1S7S, at the advanced age 
of eighty-four, passed from among the living. For more than si.xty 
years his name had been known and honored wherever fhe English 
language is spoken. His life had been an inspiration, and the 
brightest light of American literature was extinguished in his death. 
On the 19th of December, in the same year, the illustrious Bayard 
Taylor, who had recently been appointed American minister to the 
German Empire, died suddenly in the city of Berlin. His life had 
been exclusively devoted to literary work ; and almost every depart- 
ment of letters, from the common tasks of journalism to the highest 
charms of poetry, had been adorned by his genius. His death, at the 
early age of fifty-four, left a gap not soon to be filled in the shining 
ranks of literature. On the 1st day of November, 1879, Senator 
Zaehariah Cliandler, of Michigan, one of the organizers of the Re- 
])ublican party, and a great leader of that party in the times of the 
civil wai-, died suddenly at Chicago ; and on the 2-lth day of February, 
1881, another senator, the distinguished Matt. H. Carpenter, of 
Wisconsin, after a lingering illness, expired at AVashington. One 
by one the strong men who battled for the preservation of American 
nationality in the stormy days of the civil war are passing or have 
passed into the land of rest. 



ADMimSTEATIONS OF GARFIELD AND ARTHUR. 



6-1:7 



CHAPTER L X X . 
ADMINISTRATIONS OF GARFIELD AND ARTHUR. 

JAMES A. GARFIELD, twentieth President of the United States, 
was born at Orange, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, November 19th, 18:31, 
By the death of liis father he was left in infancy to the sole care 
•of his mother and to the rude surroundings of a backwoods home. 

Blest with great 
native energy 
and an abundance 
of i^hysical vigor, 
the boy gathered 
fi'om country toil 
a sound constitu- 
tion, and from 
country schools 
the rudiments 
of education. 
In boyhood his 
services were in 
frequent demand 
, , vN\i. js,;n\«4 \ i.|,,i.ii,| , II by the farmers 

ot the neighbor- 
hood — for he de- 
veloped unusual 
skill as a me- 
chanic. After- 
wards he served 
as a driver and 
pilot of a canal 
boat plying the 
Ohio and Pennsylvania canal. At the age of seventeen he attended 
the High School in Chester, where he applied himself with great dili- 
gence, extending his studies to algebra, Latin, and Greek. In the fall 
of 1851, he entered Hiram College, in Portage county, Ohio, where he 
remained as student and instructor until 1854. In that year he entered 




648 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Williams College, from which, in August of 1856, he was graduated 
with honor. He then returned to Ohio, and was made first a professor 
and afterwards president of Hiram College. This position he held 
until the outl)reak of the civil war when he left his post to enter the 
army. Meanwhile he had studied law, imbibed a love for politics, and 
been elected to the Ohio State Senate. 

As a soldier Garfield was first made lieutenant-colonel and after- 
wards colonel of the Forty-second regiment of Ohio volunteers. Ad- 
vancing with his men to the front he was soon promoted to a brigadier 
generalship, and did good service in Kentucky and Tennessee. He 
was made chief of staff" to General Rosecrans, and bore a distinguished 
part in the battle of Chiekamauga. Soon afterwards, while still in the 
field, he was, in 1862, elected by the people of his district to the lower 
house of Congress, where he continued to serve as a member for seven- 
teen years. In 1879 he was elected to the United States Senate, and 
hard ujion this followed his nomination and election to the presidency. 
American history has furnished but few instances of a more steady and 
brilliant rise from the poverty of an obscure boyhood to the most dis- 
tinguished elective office in the gift of mankind. 

On the 4th of March, 1881, President Garfield, according to the 
custom, delivered his inaugural address. A retrospect of the progress 
of American civilization during the last quarter of a century was given 
and the country congratulated on its high rank among the nations. 
The leading topics of politics were briefly reviewed, and the policy of 
the executive department of the government with respect to the great 
questions likely to engross the attention of the people, set forth with 
clearness and precision. The public school system of the United 
States should be guarded with jealous care; the old wounds of the 
South should be healed' and the heartburnings of the civil war be 
buried in oblivion; the present banking system should be maintained; 
the practices of polygamy should be repressed; Chinese immigration 
should be curbed by treaty; the equal rights of the enfranchised blacks 
should be asserted and maintained. 

On the day following the inauguration the President sent to the 
Senate for confirmation the names of the meml^ers of his cabinet. 
The nominations were, for secretary of state, James G. Blaine, of 
Maine; for secretary of the treasury, William Windom, of Minnesota ; 
for secretary of war, Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois; for secretary of the 
navy, William H. Hunt, of Louisiana; for secretary of the interior, 
Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa; for attorney-general, Wayne MacVeagh, 
of Pennsylvania; for postmaster-general, Thomas L. James, of New 



ADMINISTRATIONS OP GARFIELD AND ARTHUR. 64'J 

York. These nominations were promptly confirmed, and the new 
administration entered upon its course with omens of an auspicious 
future. 

One of the first issues which engaged the attention of the govern- 
ment after Garfield's accession to the Presidency, was the question of 
Reform in the Civil Service. This question had been inherited 
from the administration of Hayes, by whom several spasmodic efforts 
had been made to introduce better methods in the selection of men to 
fill the appointive offices of the United States. The real issue was 
whether the choice of the officials of the government should be made 
on the grounds of the character and fitness of the candidate, or on the 
principle of distributing political patronage to those who had best 
served the party — whether men should be j)romoted from the lower 
to the higher grades of official life, and retained according to the 
value and proficiency of the service rendered, or be elevated to posi- 
tion in proportion to their success in carrying elections and maintain- 
ing the party in power. The members of Congress to whom the help 
of efficient supporters in their own districts and states seemed essential, 
and by whom the patronage of the government had lieen dispensed 
since the days of Jackson, held stoutly to the old order, unwilling to 
relinquish their influence over the appointing power. President 
Hayes, after vainly attempting to establish the opposite policy, aban- 
doned the field near the close of his administration. Tiie national 
Republican platform of 1880, however, vaguely endorsed "civil service 
reform" as a principle of the party, and some expectation existed that 
Presidciit Garfield would follow the policy of his predecessor. With 
the incoming of the new administration the rush for office was unpre- 
cedented in the previous history of the country. The politicians and 
place-seekers, who claimed to have "carried the election," swarmed 
into Washington and thronged the executive mansion, clamoring for 
office, until, for the time, all plans and purposes of reform in the civil 
service were quite crushed out of sight and forgotten. As always 
hitherto, ambition for political power and hunger for the spoils of 
office triumphed over the better sense of the American people. 

The prospects of the new administration were soon darkened 
with political difficulties. A division arose in the ranks of the Re- 
publican party, threatening the disniption and ruin of that organiza- 
tion. The two wings of the Republicans were nicknamed the " Half- 
breeds " and the " Stalwarts : " tlie latter, headed by Senator Conkling, 
of New York, being the division which liad so resolutely supported 
General Grant for the Presidency in the Chicago Convention ; the 



650 UISTOItT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

former, led by jMr. Blaine, now Secretary of State, and indorsed by 
the President himself, had control of the government, and were 
numerically stronger than their opponents. The Stalwarts claimed 
the right of dispensing the appointive offices of the Government, after 
the manner which prevailed for several preceding administrations,' 
that is, the distrilmtion of the offices in the several States, under the 
name of patronage, by the Senators and Representatives of those States 
in Congress. The President, supported by his division of the party, 
and in general by the reform element in politics, insisted on naming 
the officers in the various States according to his own wishes and what 
he conceived to be the fitness of things. 

The chief clash between the two influences in the party occurred 
in respect to the ofiices in New York. The coUectorship of customs 
for the port of New York is the best appointive office in the gift of 
the Government. To fill this position the President appointed Judge 
William Robertson, and the appointment was bitterly antagonized l)y 
the New York Senators, lloscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Piatt, who, 
failing to prevent the confirmation of Robertson, resigned their seats, 
returned to their State, and failed of a reelection. The Ijreach thus 
effected in the Rejuiblican ranks was such as to threaten the dis 
memberment of the party. 

Such was the condition of affairs at the adjournment of the Senate 
in June. A few days afterward tlie President made arrangements to 
visit Williams College, where his two sons were to be placed at school, 
and to pass a short vacation with his sick wife at the sea-side. On 
the morning of July 2d, in oomjjany with Secretary Blaine and a few 
friends, he entered the Baltimore depot at Washington, preparatory to 
taking the train for Long Branch, N. J. A moment afterward he was 
approached by a miserable political miscreant named Charles Julius 
Guiteau, who, from behind, and unperceived, came within a few feet 
of the company, drew a pistol, and fired upon the chief -magistrate 
of the Republic. The aim of the assassin was too well taken, and the 
second shot struck the President centrally in the right side of the 
back, infiicting a dreadful wound. The l)leeding chieftain was quickly 
liorne away to the executive mansion, and the vile wretch who had coiii- 
nntted the crime was hurried to prison. 

For a week or two the hearts of the American people vibrated 
between hope and fear. Tlie best surgical aid was procured, and bul- 
letins were daily issued containing a brief outline of the President's 
condition. The conviction grew day by day that he would ultimately 
recover. Two surgical operations \vere performed with a view of im- 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF GARFIELD AND ARTHUR. 651 

proving liis chances for life ; but a series of relapses occurred, and the 
President gradually weakened txnder his sufferings. As a last liope 
he was, on the 6th of September, carefully conveyed from Washington 
City to Elberon, where he was 25la<^ed in a cottage only a few 
yards from the surf. Here, for a brief period, hope again revi\'ed, 
but the symptoms were aggravated at intervals, and the patient sank 
iay by day. 

At half past ten on the evening of September 19tli, the anniversary 
of the battle of Chickamauga, in which President Garfield had won his 
chief military reputation, his vital powers suddenly gave way under the 
destructive influence of blood poisoning and exhaustion, and in a few 
moments death closed the scene. For eighty days he had borne the 
pain and anguish of his situation with a fortitude and heroism rarely 
witnessed among men. The dark shadow of the crime M-liich had laid 
him low heightened rather than eclipsed the luster and glory of liis 
great and exemplary life. 

On the day following this deplorable event Vice-President 
Arthur took the oath of office in New York, and immediately repaired 
to Washington. For the fourth time in the history of the American 
Republic the duties of the presidency had been devolved by death 
apon the man constitutionally provided for such an emergency. The 
heart of the people, however, clung for a time to the dead rather than 
to the living President. The funeral of Garfield was observed first of 
all at Washington, whither the body was taken and placed in state in 
the rotunda of the Capitol. Here it was viewed by tens of thousands 
of people during the 22d and 23d of September. In his life-time the 
illustrious dead had chosen as the place of his burial the Lakeview 
Cemetery, at Cleveland, Ohio, and thither, on the 24th of the month, the 
remains were conveyed by way of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. As 
in the case of the dead Lincoln, the funeral processions and ceremonies 
were a pageant, exhibiting eveiy-where the loyal respect and love of 
the American people for him who had so lately been their pride. On 
the 26th of September his body was laid in its final resting-place. The 
day of the burial was observed throughout the country in great as- 
semblies gathered from hamlet and town and city, all anxious to tes- 
tify, by some appropriate word or token, their sorrow for the great 
national calamity, and their appreciation of the grand example of 
James A. Garfield's life. 

Chester A. Arthur, called by this sad event to be the President of the 
United States, was born in Franklin County, Vermont, October 5, 1830. 
He is of Irish descent, and was educated at Union College, from which 



652 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



institution he was graduated in lS-t9. For a while he taught school 
in his native State, and then came to New York City to study law. 
Here he was 
soon admitted 
to the bar and 
rapidly rose to 
d istinetion. 
During the 
Civil War he 
was Quarter- 
master-Gener- 
al of the State 
of New York, 
a very impor- 
tant and try- 
ing o ih c e, 
whicdi he tilled 
with great 
credit to him- 
self and the 
government. 
After IStir) he 
returned to 
the practice of 
law, and was 
appointed Col- 
lector of Cus- 
toms for the 

port of New York in isTl. This position 
wlien he was removed by President Hayes, 
law practice, but was soon called by the voice of his party to be a 
standard-bearer in the presidential canvass of 1880. His election to 
the vice-presidency followed, and then, by the death of President 
Garfield, he rose to the post of chief honor among the American 
people. 

The assumption of the duties of his high office by President 
Arthur was attended with but little ceremony or formality. On the 
22d of September the oath of otfice was again administered to him in 
the Vice-President's room, in the Capitol, Chief-justice Waite officiat- 
ing. After this, in the jiresence of the few who were gathered in 
the apartment, he delivei-ed a brief and appropriate address, referring, 




CUESTEll A. ARTHl U. 



10 held until July, 1878, 
Again he returned to his 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF QAliFIELD AND ABTHUli. 053 

in a, toiicliing manner, to the death of his predecessor. Those jiresent 
— inchidiug General Grant, ex-President Hayes, Senator Sherman, and 
his brother the General of the army — then paid their respects, and 
the ceremony was at an end. 

In accordance with the custom, the members of the Cabinet, as 
constituted so recently by President Garfield, immediately tendered 
their resignations. These were not at once accepted, the President in- 
stead inviting all of tlie members to retain their jjlaces as his consti- 
tutional advisers. For the time all did so except Mr. Windom, Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, who was succeeded by Judge Folger, of New 
York. Mr. MacVeagh, the Attorney General, also resigned a short time 
afterward, and the President appointed as his successor Hon. Benjamin 
H. Bi-ewster, of Philadelphia. The next to retire from the Garfield 
Cabinet were Mr. lUaine, Secretary of State, and Mr. James, Post- 
master General, who were succeeded in their respective offices by Hon. 
F. T. Frelingluiysen, of New Jersey, and Hon. Timothy A. Howe, of 
Wisconsin. Mr. Lincoln — so great was the charm of that illustrious 
name — remained, as if by common consent, at the head of the Dej^art- 
ment of "War. Besides those changes in his constitutional advisers, 
not much disposition to revolutionize the policy of the Govermnent 
was manifested by the new administration ; and the people generally, 
without respect to party lines, gave a tolerably cordial support to him 
who had been so suddenly called to the chief magistracy of the Union. 

From its predecessor the administration of President Arthur in- 
herited not a few complications and troubles. The chief of these was 
the series of important State trials i-elating to the alleged Stae Route 
Conspiracy. Under the recent conduct of affairs in the Post-office 
Department of the Government there had been organized a class of 
fast mail routes, known as the Star Routes, the ostensible object being 
to carry the mails with rapidity and certainty into certain distant and 
almost inaccessible porti(jns of the Western States and Territories. 
The law governing the letting of mail contracts was of suc'i sort as to 
restrict the action of the Postmaster General and his subordinates to 
definite limits of expense ; but one clause of the law gave to the De- 
partment the discretionary power to " expedite " such mail routes as 
seemed to be weaker and less efficient than the service required. This 
gave to certain officers of the Government the opportunity to let the 
contracts for many mail lines at a tmnimuin, and then under their dis- 
cretionary power to expedite the same lines into efficiency at exorbitant 
rates — the end and aim being to divide the spoils with the contractors. 

This alleged Star Route conspiracy to defraiid the Governniojit was 



654 HISTOliY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

unearthed during the Garfield administration, and Attorney-General 
MacVeagh was directed by the President to prosecute the reputed 
conspirators. Indictments were found by the Grand Jury against ex- 
United States Senator Stephen AV. Doi'sey, of Arkansas ; second 
assistant Postmaster-General Thomas J. Brad}', of Indiana, and several 
others of less note. Mr. MacVeagh, however, seemed in the conduct 
of the Department of Justice to act with little spirit and no success ; 
but on the coming into office of Attorney-General Brewster, matters 
were rpiickened into sharp activity, and those indicted for conspiracy 
were brought to trial. After several weeks of stormy prosecution and 
defence, the case went to the jury, who brought in a verdict absurdly 
convicting certain subordinates of ]iarticipating in a conspiracy which 
could not have existed without the guilt of their superiors. This 
scandal, occupying the public mind in the summer of 1882, contributed 
much to the defeat of the Republican party in the State elections of 
the November following — a defeat so general as to remand by over- 
whelming majorities the control of the Congress of the United States 
to the Democrats. 

It is fortunate that the pen of history is sometimes occupied with 
events of a nature and tendency wholly difEerent from the public 
affairs of the State. Perhaps the most striking feature of the civiliza- 
tion of our times is exhibited in the advancement of science, as illus- 
trated in the thousand applications of discovery and invention to the 
wants of mankind. At no other age in the history of the world has the 
practical knowledge of nature's laws been so rapidly and widely 
diffused ; and at no other epoch has the subjection of natural relations 
to the will of man been so wonderfully displayed. The old life of 
the human race is giving place to the new life, based on science, and 
energized by the knowledge that the conditions of man's environment 
are as benevolent as they are immutable. 

Vain would it be to attempt to enumerate all the ways in which the 
beneficent work of science lias been extended in our day ; but perhaps 
a sjjecification of a few of the most remarkable of the recent applica 
tions of scientific knowledge may prove of interest to the reader of 
our current history. 

It has remained for the present to solve the problem of oral connnu- 
nication between persons at a distance. A knowledge of the laws of 
sound and electricity has enabled the scientists of our day to transmit, 
or at least reproduce, the human voice at a distance of hundreds or even 
thousands of miles. The history of the Telephone will ever stand as 
a perpetual reminder to after ages of the inventive skill and scientific 



ARTHUR'S ADMINISTRATION. 



655 



progress of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. This instru- 
ment, like many similar inventions, seems to have been the work of 
several ingenious minds directed at nearly the same time to the same 
problem. The solution, however, may be properly accredited to Mr. 
Elislia P. Gray, of Chicago, and Professor A. Graham Bell, of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It should be mentioned, 
however, that Professor A. C. Dolbear, of Tufts College, Massa- 
chusetts, and Mr. Thomas A. Edison, of Menlo Park, New Jersey, 
have also succeeded in solving the original difficulties in the way of 
telephonic communication, or at least in answering practically some of 
the minor questions in the way of success. 

The Telephone may 
be defined as an instru- 
ment for the reproduction 
of sound.s, particularly the 
sounds of the liunian voice, 
by the agency of electricity, 
at long distances from the 
origin of the vocal disturb- 
ance. It is now well known 
that sound consists of a 
wave agitation, communi- 
cated through some me- 
dium to the organ of hear- 
ing. Every particular sound 
has its own physical equiv- 
alent in the system of waves 
in which it is written. The 
only thing that is necessary 
in order to carry a sound in 
its integrity to any distance 
is to transmit its physical 
equivalent, and to redehver 
that equivalent to some or- 
gan of hearing capable of receiving it. Upon this idea the TeleiDlione 
is created. Evei-y sound which falls by impact upon the sheet-iron disk 
of the instrument communicates thereto a sort of tremor ; this tremor 
causes the disk to approach and recede from the magnetic pole placed 
just behind the diaphragm. A current of electricity is thus induced, 
pulsates along the wire to the other end, and is delivered to the }ne- 
talllc disk of the second instrument, many miles away, just as it was 




THE TELEPHONE. 



(jo6 UIsrOHY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

produced in the first. The car of tlie hearer receives from tlie second 
iiistnunent the exact physical equivalent of the sound or sounds which 
were delivered against the disk of the first instrument, and thus the 
utterance is received at a distance just as it was given forth. 

As already said, the invention of the Telephone stands chiefly to 
the credit of Professors Gray and Bell. It should be recorded that as 
early as 1837 the philosoj^her Page succeeded, by means of electro- 
magnetism, in transmitting mnsical tones to a distance. It was not, 
however, until 1877 that Professor Bell, of the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, at a public lecture given at Salem, astonished his 
audience, and the whole country as well, by receiving and ti'ansmitting 
vocal messages from Boston, twenty miles away. Incredulity had no 
more a place, as it respected the feasibility of talking to others at a dis- 
tance. The experiments of Mr. Gray at Chicago, a few days later in 
the same month, were eqnally successful. Messages were distinctly 
transmitted between that city and Milwaukee, a distance of eighty-five 
miles ; nor could it be longer doubted that a new era in the means of 
communication had come. The Bell Telephone, witli many modifi- 
cations and improvements, has sprung into rapid use. Within reason- 
able limits of distance the new method of transmitting intelligence by 
direct vocal utterance is rapidly taking the place of all slower and less 
convenient means of inter-communication. The appearance of this 
simple instrument is one of the many harbingers of that auspicious 
time when the constant interchange of thought and sentiment between 
man and man, community and community, nation and nation, shall 
conduce to the peace of the world and the goodfellowship of all 
mankind. 

From the Telephone to the Phonoorapu was but a step. Both iti- 
struments are based upon the same principle of science. The dis- 
covery that every sound has its physical equivalent in a wave or agita- 
tion which affects the particles of matter composing the nuiterial 
through which the sound is transmitted, led almost inevitably to the 
other discovery of caiching and retaining that physical equivalent or 
wave in the surface of some body, and to the ix-production of the 
original sound therefrom. Such is the fundamental princijile of the 
interesting, liut thus far little useful, instrument known as the Phono- 
graph. The same was invented by Thomas A. Edison in the year 
1877. The Phonograph differs considerably in structure and purpo.sc 
from the Vibrograph and the Phonautograph which preceded it. The 
latter two instruments were made simply to wnt-t' sound vibrations ; 
the former to reproduce aud'thhj the sounds themselves. 



AUTULirS AUillSLsTILiTIOX. 657 

The Phonograph consists of three principal parts : tlie scndei', or 
fimuel-shaped tube, with its open mouth-piece standing toward the 
operator ; the diapliragra and stylus united thei-ewith, which receive 
the sound spoken into the tube ; and, thirdly, tlie revolving cylinder, 
with its sheet-coating of tin-foil laid over the surface of tlie spiral 
•groove, to i-eceive the indentations of the point of the st3dus. The mode 
of operation is very simple. The cylinder is revolved- and the point of 
the stylus when there is no sound-agitation in the funnel or mouth-piece 
makes a smooth continuous depression in the tin-foil over the spiral 
groove. But when any sound is thrown into the mouth-piece the iron 
disk or diaphragm is agitated ; this agitation is carried tlirough tlie 
stylus and written in irregular marks, dots, and peculiar figures in the 
tin-foil groove. When the utterance which is to be reproduced has 
been completed the instrument is stopped, the stylus thrown back 
from the groove, and the cylinder revolved backward to the place of 
starting. The stylus is now returned to its place in the groove, and 
the cylinder is revolved at the same rate of rapidity as before. As the 
point of the st3'lus plays up and down in the indentations and through 
the figures of the tin-foil produced by its own previous agitation, a 
quiver exactly equivalent to that which was produced by the utterance 
in the mouth-piece is now communicated backward to the diaphragm, 
and by it is flung through the mouth-piece into the air. This agita- 
tion is, of course, the exact physical equivalent of the original sound, 
ur more properly is the sound itself. Thus it is that the Phonograph 
is made to talk, to sing, to cry, to utter, in short, any sound sufficiently 
powerful to produce a perceptible tremor in the mouth-piece and dia- 
phragm of the instrument. 

Some experiments have already been made looking to the utilization 
of the Phonograph as a practical addition to the civilizing apparatus 
of our times. It has been proposed to stereotype the tin-foil record of 
what has been uttered in the mouth-piece, and thus to preserve in a 
permanent form the potency of vanished sounds. If this could be 
successfully and perfectly accomplished the invention of the Phono- 
graph would, doubtless, take rank with the greatest of the age, and 
might possibly revolutionize the wliole method of learning. It would 
seem, indeed, that nature has intended the ear, rather than the eye, as 
the organ of education. It seems to be against the everlasting fitness 
of things that the eyes of all mankind should be strained, weakened, 
permanently injured, in childhood with the unnatural tasks which are 
imposed upon that delicate organ. It would seem to be more in 
accordance with the nature and capacities of man and the general 
4 '2 



658 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

character of the external world to reserve the eye for the disceriuneut 
and appreciation of beaiity, and to impose upon the ear the tedious 
and hard tasks of education. Tlie Phonograpli makes it possible to 
read hi/ the ear, instead of by the eye ; and it is not beyond the range 
of probability that the book of the future, near or remote, will be 
written in phonograpliic plates and made to reveal its story to the 
waiting ear rather than through the medium of print to the enfeebled 
and tired eye of the reader. 

Perhaps the most marked and valuable invention of the age — the 
one best calculated to affect favorably the welfare of the people, 
especially in great cities — is that of The Electric LktUT. The intro- 
duction of this superior system of illumination marks an epoch more 
interesting and important in the history of our country than is any 
political conflict or mere change of rulers. About the beginning of 
the last decade the project of introducing the electric light for general 
purposes of illumination began to be agitated. It was at once per- 
ceived that the advantages of such lighting were as conspicuous as 
they were obvious. The light is so powerful as to render practicable 
the performance of many mechanical operations as easily by night as 
by day. Again, the danger of tire from illuminating sources is obvi- 
ated by the new system. The ease and expedition of all kinds of 
night employment are greatly enhanced. A given amount of illumi- 
nation can be produced nmch more cheaply by electricity' than by any 
means of gas-lighting or ordinary combustion. 

Among the first to demonstrate the feasibility of Electric Lighting 
was the philosopher Gramme, of Paris. In the early part of 1875 he 
successfully lighted his laboratory by means of electricity. Soon 
afterward the foundry of Ducommun & Company, of Mulhouse, was 
similai'ly lighted. In the course of the following year the apparatus 
for lighting by means of carbon candles was introduced into many of 
the principal factories of France and other leading countries of 
Europe. It may prove of interest in this connection to sketch brielly 
the principal features of the Electric Light system, and to trace in a 
few paragraphs the development of that system in onr own and other 
countries. 

Lighting by electricity is accomplished in several ways. In general, 
however, the principle by which the result is accomplished is one, and 
depends upon the resistance ivMch the el-ectriral current meets in its 
transmission through various siibstances. There are no perfect con- 
ductors of electricity. In proportion as the non-conductive quality is 
present in a sultstance, especially in a metal, the resistance to the pas- 



ARTUUli'S ADMINISrUATION. 6513 

sage of electricity is pronounced, and the consequent disturbance 
among the molecular particles of the substance is great. Whenev-er 
such resistance is encountered in a circuit, the electricity is converted 
into heat ; and when the resistance is gi'eat the heat is in turn con- 
verted into light ; that is, the substance which offers the resistance 
glows with the transformed energy of the impeded current. 

Upon this simple principle all the apparatus for the production of 
the Electric Light is constructed. Among the metallic substances the 
one best adapted by its low conductivity to such resistance and transfor- 
mation of force is platinum. The high degree of heat necessary to 
fuse this metal adds to its usefulness and availability for the purpose 
indicated. When an electrical current is forced along a platinum wii-e 
too small to transmit the entire volume it becomes at once heated, first 
to a red and then to a white glow, and is thus made to send forth a 
radiance like that of the sun. Of the non-metallic elements which 
offer similar resistance the best is carbon. The infusibility of this 
substance renders it greatly superior to platinum for purposes of the 
Electric Light. 

As much as seventy years ago it was discovered by Sir Humphry 
Davy that carbon points may be rendered incandescent by means of a 
powerful electrical current. That philosoj^her in 1809 made the dis- 
covery here referred to while expei'imenting with the great battery of 
the Royal Institution in London. He observed, rather by accident 
than by design or previous anticipation, that a powerful electrical cur- 
rent, passing between two pointed bits of wood charcoal, produces 
tremendous heat and a light like that of the sun. It appears, how- 
ever, that the philosopher regarded the phenomenon rather in the 
nature of an interesting display of force than as a suggestion of the 
possibility of turning night into day. 

For nearly three quarters of a century the discovery made by Sir 
Humphry lay dormant among the great mass of scientific facts 
revealed in the laboratoi-y. In the course of time, however, the 
potency of the new fact began to be apprehended. The electric lamp 
in many forms was proposed and tried. The scientists Jfiardet, 
Wilde, Brush, Fuller, and many others of less note busied themselves 
with the work of invention. Especially did MM. Gramme and 
Siemens devote their scientific genius to the work of turning to good 
account the knowledge now fully possessed of the trausformability of 
the electric current into light. 

The experiments of these two distinguished inventors seemed to 
bring us to the dawn of a new era in artificial lighting. Tlie Russian 



660 HISTORY OF THE UNITFW STATES. 

philosoplier Jabloclikoff carried the work still further hy the practical 
introduction of tlie carbon candle. Other scientistis — Carre, Foucault, 
Scri-in, EapiefF, and Werdei-rnann — had at an earlier or later day 
thrown much additional information into the common stock of knowl- 
edge relative to the illuniinating possibilities of electricity. Finally 
this accumulated material of science fell into the hands of our own 
untutored but remarkably brilliant and radical inventor, Thomas A. 
Edison, who gave himself with the utmost zeal to the work of remov- 
ing the remaining difficulties in the problem. He began his investiga- 
tions in this line of invention in September of 187S, and in December 
of the following year gave to the public his first formal statement of 
results. After many experiments with platinum, he abandoned that 
material in favor of the carbon-are in vacuo. The latter is, iiuleed, the 
essential feature of the Edison light. A small semicircle, or liorsi-- 
shoe, of some substance reduced to the form of jnire carbon, the two 
ends being attached to the poles of the generating machine, or 
'• dynamo," as the engine is popularly called, is enclosed in a glass 
bulb from which the air has been carefully withdrawn, and iij rendered 
incandescent l)y the passage of an electric current. The other impor- 
tant features of Edison's discovery relate to the divisibility of the cur- 
rent and its cf)ntrol and regidation in volume by the operator. These 
matters have been so fully mastered in the Edison invention as to 
render the apj^aratus as completely suliject to the management of even 
an unskilled manipulator as are the other varieties of illuminating 
apparatus. 

It were vain to speculate ujion the future of electric lighting. 
Doubtless the old systems of illumination are destined soon to give 
place altogether to the splendors of the electric glow. The general 
effects of the change upon society will, no doubt, be as marked as they 
are salutary. Darkness, the enemy of good government and morality in 
great cities, will in a great measure be dispelled by the beneficent 
agent over which the genius of Davy, Gramme, Brush, Edison, and a 
host of other explorers in the new continents of science has so nearly 
triumphed. The case, comfort, happiness, and welfare of mankind 
will be vastly multiplied; and we shall ever be reminded in the 
glow of the " light of the future " of that splendid fact, that the prog- 
ress of civilization depends in a large measure ujion the knowl- 
edge of nature's laws and the dift'usion of that knowledge among the 
]>cople. 

The last decade has also been conspicuous for the number and 
character of the public works which have been projected or broughi 



AUTJiuii'.'^ Au.unyj.sriiA noN. 



661 



to completion within 
the period. In these 
the immense physical 
capacity of onr country 
and people has been am- 
]ily illnstrated. Among 
the most important of 
the enterprises here re- 
ferred to may be men- 
tioned the great suspen- 
sion bridge over the 
strait known as the East 
Kiver, between N e w 
York and Brooklyn. 
The completion and for- 
mal opening of this work, 
which occurred on the 
24th of May, 1883, was 
an event of such interest 
as to evoke universal at- 
tention and elicit many 
descriptions. 

The Brooklyn 
Bridge is the longest 
and largest structure of 
the kind in the world. 
The design was the work 
of the distinguished 
John A. Roebling, the 
originator of wire sus- 
pension bridges, under 
whose supervision and 
that of his son, Wash- 
ington A. Roebling, 
the structure was com- 
pleted.* 

* The personal history of 
ilie Roeblings, father and son, 
in connection with the great 
bridge, is as pathetic as it is 
interesting. The elder engineer 
was injured while laving th.e 




662 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The East River striu'tiire is what is known as a suspension bridge, 
being supjtorted by four enormous wires or cables sti-etching from pier 
to pier a distance of 1,595 feet. From tlie main towers to the anchor- 
ages on eitlier side is 930 feet. From tlie ancliorages outward to the 
termini of tlie approaches is, on the New York side a distance of 1,562 
feet, and on the Brooklyn side 972 feet, giving a total length of bridge 
and approaches of 5,989 feet. The total weight of the structure is 
(5,4-70 tons. The estimated capacity of support is l,7iO tons, though 
tiie ultimate resistance is calculated at 49,200 tons. 

The Brooklyn Bridge was first projected by William C. Kingsley, 
president of the bridge trustees, and his predecessor in that office, 
Henry C. Murphy ; the first plans and estimates were prepared in 
1865. The company for the construction was organized two years 
afterward. The capital was fixed at $5,000,000. The enterprise 
was not pressed with due vigor until 1875, when the work was taken 
up bv the State of New York. A Board of Managers was appointed 
to bring tlie bridge to completion at as early a date as possible. Con- 
gress also patronized the enterprise to the extent of authorizing the 
construction of the work, which act was passed in June of 1869. The 
formal 'opening of the bridge in May of 1883 drew the attention of 
the whole nation to the metropolis, and proved by the interest which 
the event excited that the American people are still able to appreciate 
a great enterprise in art and mechanics, and to show by such appi-e- 
ciation that, even in America, politics is not the best vocation of 
mankind. 

On the whole, the administration of President Arthur proved to 
be uneventful. The government pursued the even tenor of its way, 
and the progress of the countiw was unchecked by serious calam- 
ity. In tlie domain of politics we may note the gradual obliteration of 
those sharply defined issues which for the last quarter of a century 
have divided the two great parties. As a consequence there has been a 
healthful abatement of partisan rancor. It is becoming every year more 
apparent that the (juestions at issue in the political arena are merely 

foundation of our of the shore piers on the 22d of July, 18611, and died of lockjaw. W. A. 
Roebling then took np his father's unfinished task. He continued the work of super- 
vision for about two years, wlieu lie was prostrated with a peculiar form of paralysis known 
as the " caisson disease," from wliicli he never fully recovered. His mental faculties, 
however, remained unimpaired, and he was able to direct with his eye what his hands could 
no longer touch. While tluis prostrated his wife discovered a genius almost equal to that 
other husband and her fatlier-iri-law. The palsied engineer, tlius re-enforced, continued for 
tive years to furnish plans lor the work wliich had been projected by his father. These 
(ilans were almost all drawn liy his wife, who never flagged in the great work which had 
fallen to her prostrate husband. la 1876 he was partly restored to health, and lived tu 
hear the applause which his genius and enterprise had merited. 



ARTHUR'S ADMINISTRATION. 6(13 

factitious, and that tlie clamor of partisausliip is kept up for the most 
part by those wlio hope to gather tlie spoils of the political battle- 
iield. How much longer these ill-founded cries of alarm will serve 
the purpose of holding the people in line under the old party names 
is a question which none may solve with certainty. Meanwhile, the 
man who plows, or keeps the flock — the mechanic, the artisan, the 
merchant — will for the present, no doubt, continue to come forth at 
the call of the party leaders and vote as has been his wont on issues 
that are more imaginary tlian real, and whose only merit consists in 
the fact that a certain residue of patriotism is still the motive-force in 
the average American election. 

To the general tact, that party questions are no longer vital and dis- 
tinct, there is one general exception. It cannot be doubted that the 
American people are really and sincerely divided on the question of 
THE TARIFF. Whether the true policy of the United States is that of free 
trade or of a protective system is a fundamental issue, and the decision 
is not yet. Ever and anon, from the very foundation of the government 
to the present hour, this question has obtruded itself upon the attention 
of the people. It may be well, therefore, in this connection to state 
the various views which may be entertained on the subject. 

First, we have the doctrine of free trade pure and simple. The 
theory is this: The indications of profitable industry are founded in 
nature. A rich soil means agriculture ; a barren soil means something 
else. Beds of ore signify mining ; veins of petroleum, oil wells ; a 
headlong river, water-power ; a hill of silicon, glass-works ; a forest of 
]iine, ship masts and coal-tar; bays, havens, and rivers, commerce. 
Free trade says that these things are the hints of the natural world as 
to liow human industry shall be exerted. The way to wealth, pros- 
perity, happiness, is to follow nature whithersoever she leads. To go 
against nature is to go against self-interest and common sense. " Let 
alone " is the motto of the system — hands off and no meddling with 
the plain conditions which are imposed on man by his environment. 
Let him who lives in the fecund valley till the soil and gather a hun- 
dred-fold. Let him who inhabits the rocky upland by river-side or bed of 
pent-up coal devote his energies to manufacturing. Let each procure 
from the other by exchange the necessities and conveniences of life 
which he could not himself produce but at a great disadvantage. Let 
the producer of raw material send it near or far to the manufacturer and 
receive in return the fabric which he must wear; the food wherewith 
lie must sustain his life. AVhy should he do otherwise? It is intend- 
ed that men should live together in amity. Neighbors should be at 



664 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

peace. Different corainiiiiities should not quarrel. Nations should 
not iiglit. The harmonious order of civilization requires a world-wide 
exchange of products. Men are happier and richer when they give 
themselves freely to the laws of their environment, and toil in those 
holds of industry to which both their own dispositions and the benevo- 
lent linger of nature points the way. 

All contrivances of law which controvert or oppose these funda- 
mental conditions of legitimate industry are false in theory and per- 
nicious in application. If civil society assume to direct the industries 
of her people against the plain indications of nature, she becomes a 
tyrant. All laws which tend to divert the industrial energies of a 
nation from these pursuits which are indicated by the natural sur- 
roundings are hurtful, selfish, self-destructive, and, in the long run, 
weakening and degrading to the people. A tariff duty so laid as to 
build up one industry at the expense of another is a piece of barbarous 
intermeddling alike with the principles of connnoii sense and the in- 
herent rights of man. If free trade makes one nation dependent on 
another, then it also makes that other nation dependent on the first. 
The one can no more afford to fight the other than the other can af- 
ford to fight it. Hence free trade. It is beneficent and just. Hence 
a tariff' for revenue only. It is the true policy of government rela- 
tive to the interests of the people. Such is the theory of the free 
trader. 

The first remove from the doctrine of free trade proper is that of 
INCIDENTAL PRiiTECTioN. The primary assumptions of this theory are 
nearly identical with those above presented. Nearly all of the propo- 
sitions advanced by the free trader are accepted as correct by the inci- 
dental protectionist. The latter, however, holds some peculiar doc- 
trines of his own. He claims that men — as the doctrine of free trade 
teaches — should labor according to the indications of nature, and that 
the attempt on the part of government to divert the industries of the 
people from one channel to another is contrary to right reason and 
sound policy. But he also holds that since a tariff is the common 
means adopted by most of the civilized States of the world to produce 
the revenue whereby the expenses of the State are met and sustained, 
the same should be so levied as to be incidentally favorable to those 
industries of the people which are placed at a natural disadvantage. 
He does not hold that any tariff should be levied with the intention- 
of protecting and fostering a given industry, lint that in every case the 
tax should be laid for public purposes only — that is, with the intention 
of siistaininy the State, and be only incidentally directed to the pro- 



ARTHUR'S ADMINISTRA TION. 605 

tection of the weaker iudiistiy. These last assumptions fnriiisli the 
ground of political divergence between free traders proper and in- 
cidental protectionists. The latter take into consideration both the fun- 
damental conditions of the argument and the peculiar character of the 
industries of the people. They claim that given pursuits may thus be 
strengthened and encouraged by legislative provisions, and that natural 
and political laws may be made to co-operate in varying and increasing 
the productive resources of the State. 

The third view as relative to this question is that of limited pro- 
tection. The fundamental difference between this theory and the 
preceding is this : The incidental protectionist denies, and the limited 
protectionist afiirms, the wisdom of levying tariff duties with the in- 
tention and j>urpose of protecting home industries. The limited pro- 
tectionist would have the legislation of the State take particular cog- 
nizance of the character of the industries of the jieople, and would 
have the laws enacted with constant reference to the encouragement 
of the weaker — generally the manufacturing — pursuits. The doctrine 
of incidental protection would stop short of tliis ; would adopt tlie 
theory of " let alone," so far as the original purpose of legislation is 
concerned, but would at the same time so shape the tariff that a needed 
stimulus should be given to certain industries. The limited protec- 
tionist agrees with the free trader in certain assumptions. The former 
as well as the latter assents to the proposition that the original con 
dition of industry is found in nature — in the environment of the 
laborer. But he also urges that the necessity for a varied industry is 
so great, so important, to the welfare and independence of a people as 
to justify the deflection of human energies by law to certain pursuits 
which could not be profitably followed but for the fact of protection. 
This he makes a reason for tariff legislation. He would make the 
weaker industry live and thrive liy tiie side of the stronger. He 
would modify the crude rules of nature by the higher rules of human 
reason. He would not only adapt man to his environment, but would 
adapt the environment to him. He would keep in view the strength 
and dignity of the State, and would be willing to incur temporary <lis- 
advantages for the sake of permanent good. In the course of time, 
when, under the stimulus of a protective system, the industries of the 
State have become sutiiciently varied and isufficiently harmonized with 
original conditions, he would allow the system of protective duties to 
expire and freedom of trade to supervene, but until that time he would 
insist that the weaker, but not less necessary, industries of a people 
should be encouraged and fostered by law. He would deny the justice 



(566 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

or economy of that system which iu u new country, boundless in 
natural resources but poor in capital, would constrain the people to 
bend themselves to the production of a few great staples, the manu- 
facture of which by foreign nations would make them rich and leave 
the original producers in perpetual vassalage and poverty. 

The fourth view is embodied in the theory of higo protectiox. In 
this the doctrine is boldly advanced that the assumptions of free trade 
are specious and false. The inifuence of man upon his environment 
is so great as to make it virtually whatever the law of right reason 
would suggest. The suggestion of right reason is this : Every nation 
should be independent. Its sovereignty and equality should be secured 
by every means short of injustice. In order that a State may be inde- 
pendent and able to mark out for itself a great destiny, its industries 
must afford employment for all the talents and faculties of man, and 
yield products adapted to all his wants. To devote the energies of a 
people to those industries only which are suggested by the situation 
and environment, is to make man a slave to nature instead of nature's 
master. It may be sound reason for the people inhabiting a fertile valley 
to devote themselves principally to agricultural pursuits ; but to do 
this to the exclusion of other industries is merely to narrow the en- 
ergies of the race, make dependent the laborer, and finally exhaust 
those very powers of nature which for the present seem to suggest one 
pursuit and forbid all others. On the contrary it is the duty of society 
to build up many industries in every locality, whatever may be the en- 
vironment. If nature furnishes no suggestion of blast furnaces and 
iron-works, then nature should be constrained by means of human 
law. The production of manufactured products should be so en- 
couraged by tariff duties as to become profitable in all situations. Not 
only should every State, but every community be made comparatively 
independent. Every community should be able, by its own in- 
dustries, to supply at least the larger part of its own wants. The 
spindle should be made to turn; the forge made to glow; the mill- 
wheel made to turn ; the engine inMJe to ]iant ; and the towering fur- 
nace to ffing up into the darkness of midnight its volcanic glare — all 
this, whether nature has or has not prepared the antecedents of such 
activities. And this cannot be accomplished, or at least not well accom- 
plished, iu any other way than by the legal protection of those in- 
dustries which do not flourish under the action of merely natural laws. 
It is, in brief, the theory of the high protectionist that every commu- 
nity of men, by means of its varied and independent activities — fos- 
tered and encouraged by the protective system — should become in the 



ARTHUM'S ADMINISTRATION. 667 

bod}- politic what the ganglion is in the nerve system of man — an in- 
dependent, local power, capable of originating its own action and di- 
recting its own energies. 

There is still a fifth position occasionally assumed by publicists and 
sometimes by nations. This is the doctrine and practice of prohib- 
rroEY TAKiFFs. The idea here is that the mutual interdependence of 
nations is, on the whole, disadvantageous, and that each should be ren- 
dered xohoUy independent of the other. If in any State or nation cer- 
tain industrial powers and conditions are wanting, then those powers 
and conditions should be produced by means of law. Internal trade 
is, according to this doctrine, the principal thing ; and commercial in- 
tercourse with foreign States a matter of secondary or even dubious ad- 
vantage. If the price of the given home product be not sufficient to 
stimulate its production in such quantities as to meet all the recpiii-ements 
of the market, then that price should be raised by means of legislation, 
and raised again and again, until the foreign trade shall cease and home 
manufactui-e be supplied in its place. True, there are not many who 
now carry the doctrine of protection to this extreme ; but it is also true 
that in the endeavor to prepare protective schedules under the system of 
limited or high protection it not infrequently happens that the tariff 
is fixed at such a scale as to act as a prohibitory duty, and turn aside 
entirely the foreign commerce in the article on which the tariff is laid. 

Such, then, is the question which from time to time has arisen in 
the political history of our country. The second statute ever enacted by 
Congress under the Constitution was passed for the purpose of " pro- 
viding a revenue and affording protection to American industryP 
Even the very necessity M'hich gave rise to the Constitution itself was 
one relating to commerce and interwoven with the tariff. From the 
beginning the question would not down. During the fourth and fifth 
decades of the century the leading political agitations were produced 
by the revival of the tariff issue in our politics. Every one is acquaint- 
, ed with the " American system " which was so earnestly promoted by 
Henry Clay. Every one knows that in general the Whigs of the ante- 
bellum epoch were in favor of the protective system, and that the Demo- 
crats opposed it. After the war the question slumbered for a season. 
In 1880 a paragraph in the national platform of the Democratic party 
was inserted — not, indeed, with the intention of evoking an old con- 
troversy from the shadows of oblivion — which by declaring in favor of 
"a tariff for revenue only," unexpectedly precipitated the whole issue, 
and contributed to, if it did not determine, the defeat of the Demo- 
cratic ticket. Even in those States where Democracy was in the ascend- 



668 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ant the growth of great inannfaeturing establishnients Iiad in the 
meantime brought in a vast army of artisans, who, in spite of all party 
affiliation, refused to support a platform whicli, according to their be- 
lief, was calculated to injure, if not destroy, the very business in whicli 
they were engaged. Both the Democrats and the Republicans during 
the last four years have made a strenuous effort to align their party 
followers on this question, but neither have been successful. Neithei- 
are the Democrats unanimous for free trade, noi' are the Repiibli- 
cans unanimous for a system of protection. Perhaps unanimity has 
been more nearly attained in the Republican than in the Democratic 
ranks, though it is not to be denied that many of the most eminent 
and thoughtful Republican leaders, in the East, are in favor of free 
trade. 

During the whole of xirthur's aduiinistration this question gath- 
ered head, and the white crests of conflicting tides were seen along 
the whole surface of the presidential contest of 1884. The ultimate 
settlement of the question will be determined by self-interest rather 
than by abstract argument. When the party in power, whatever that 
party may be, shall become convinced that the interest of the United 
States requires the abolition of all protective duties and the substitution 
therefor of a system of tariff for revenue only, then, and not till tlien. 
will the English theory of political economy take the place of tliut 
which has thus far prevailed on this side of the sea. 

Tlie quadrennial agitation of the American people relative to the 
presidency began at an early date of Arthur's administration. Hardly 
had the crime of Garfield's ninrdei- been perpetrated and the presi- 
dency transferred to Mr. Arthur until the issue of naming a successor 
was raised by the ever-busy swarm of American politicians. The year 
1882 had hardly furnished a breathing-time for the subsidence of the 
party passions of two years before, until the great army of the inter- 
ested went forth on an expedition to arouse the country for another 
contest. It cannot be doubted that the managers of both the leading 
political organizations have been f(>r some years alarmed lest through 
the failure of living issues the old combinations which have divided 
the country for a quarter of a century should go to pieces and leave 
the field to the people. But thus far the skill of partisans has been 
sufficient to cajole the masses into the l)elief that the old questions are 
still vital, and thus to keep alive the fires of a well-nigh extinct party 
strife. 

During the year 1883 many eminent men were named in coniiec-- 
tion with the presidential office. Among those most prominently and 



ARTHUR'S ADMINISTRATION. 6tjl) 

warmly advocated by the Republicans were James G. Blaine, of 
Maine ; George F. Edmunds, of Vermont ; President Arthur, of New- 
York; Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut; John Sherman, of Ohio; 
John A. Logan and Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois ; and General Will- 
iam T. Sherman, of Missouri. Among the Democrats, the statesmen 
most frequently urged for the nomination in 1884 were General B. F. 
Butler, of Massachusett* ; Samuel J. Tilden and Grover Cleveland, of 
New York ; Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania; Thomas F. 15ayard, 
of Delaware ; Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio ; John G. Carlisle, of Ken- 
tucky ; Joseph E. M'Donald and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. 
Early in 1884 Chicago was selected as the place of both the national 
conventions. Meanwhile the Greenback-Labor party held its conven- 
tion at Indianapolis in the month of April, and nominated Gen. B. F. 
Butler as a candidate for the presidency, and A. M. West, of Missis- 
sippi, for the vice-presidency, of the United States. The Republican 
convention met on the 3d of May, and after a spirited session of three 
days' duration brought its labors to an end by the nomination of James 
G. Blaine, of Maine, for president, and Gen. John A. Logan, of Illinois, 
for vice-president ; the Democratic delegates assembled on the 9th of 
July, and on the 11th of the month concluded their session by the 
nomination of Gov. Grover Cleveland, of New York, for the first place, 
and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, for the second, on the national 
ticket. Both the Republican and Democratic nominations were re- 
ceived with general enthusiasm, but large and powerful factions in both 
parties refused to support the nominee ; nor could it well be foreseen at 
the opening of the canvass of 1881: which party was likely to come out 
victorious in the battle of the ensuing autumn. 

As the summer wore away and the issues which the political parties 
had attempted to create were discussed before the people, the uncer- 
tainty became still greater. When the election drew^ nigh every thing 
seemed to depend upon the electoral votes of New^ York and Indiana. 
A close study of the situation revealed the fact that the latter State was 
Democratic, and would so record her vote. This fact narrowed the 
contest to the great State of New^ York. The event proved favorable 
to the Democrats, though their majority in the popular vote of the 
State was only 1,142. This small preponderance, however, was suffi- 
cient to determine the result ; it gave the vote of the Empire. State to 
( 'leveland and Hendricks, assuring to them 219 ballots in the Electoral 
Colleee asainst 182 votes for Blaine and Logan. 

Do ' 

The sequel of the presidential election of this year was less happy 
than generally happens under like circumstances. It could hardly be 



670 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

expected that the Ivepublicau managers and otRce-holders long occupy- 
ing the places of power would abdicate without expressions of dis- 
pleasure. Mr. Blaine himself soon after the election delivered a speech 
which, so far from being pacific in its tone, was, for the most part, a 
bitter invective against the South. The Republican newspapers, espe- 
cially in the West, took up the hue and cry, and for a while filled their 
columns with such matter as might well have appeared in the first year 
after the Civil War. By degrees, however, this feeling subsided and 
near the close of Artliur's administration the office-holders as a clas.s 
began to trim their sails with the evident hope that the breezes of 
Civil Service Reform, to which the President-elect was pledged, might 
waft them still farther on the high seas of power and emolument. 

Before the retirement of President Arthur the command of the 
Army of the United States was transferred from General William T. 
Sherman to General Philip H. Sheridan. The former distinguished 
officer, one of the most talented and eminent soldiers of the century, 
having reached the age at which, according to an act of Congress, he 
might retire from active service, availed himself of the provision and 
laid down his command. Tlie formal papers with which he concluded 
his official relations with the army were marked with the same fervor 
and patriotism which had characterized all of his utterances since the 
time when he gave his services to the country in the dark days of dis- 
union. Nor could it be said that the new chieftain, to whom the com- 
mand of the American army was now given, was less a patriot and sol- 
dier than his illustrious predecessor. 

The recurrence of the birthday of Washington, 1SS5, was noted for 
the dedication of the great monument which had been a-building for 
so many years at the capital. The erection of such a structure was 
sugajested as early as 1799. It was not, however, iintil 1835 that an 
organization was effected with a view to undertaking the work. For 
many years after the incipiency of the enterprise the building lagged, 
and it was not until the work had been energized by Congress that it 
was brought to completion. The cost of the completed monument was 
about a million live hundred thousand dollars. The structure is the 
highest in the world. Tiie shaft itself, without reckoning the founda- 
tion, is live hundred and fifty -five feet in height, being thirty feet higher 
than the Cathedral at Cologne, and seventy-five feet higher than the 
Pyramid of Cheops. The structure is composed of more than eighteen 
thousand blocks of stone. They are mostly of white marble and weigh 
several tons each. One hundred and eighty-one memorial stones, con- 
tributed by the different States of the Union and by friendly foreign 



AltTJIUR S ADMINISTRATION. 



671 



nations, are set at various places in the structure. The dedication 
occurred on Saturday, the 21st of February. The ceremonies were of 
the most imposing character. A procession of more than six thousand 
persons proceeded from the base of tlie monument along Pennsylvania 
Avenue to the Capitol, while salutes were fired from the batteries of 
the Navy Yard. At the Capitol the procession was reviewed by the 




GENERAT, PHILIP II. 



President of the United States. The concluding ceremonies were lield 
in the House of Representatives, where a great throng had assembled to 
honor the memory of the Father of his Country. The principal ora- 
tion, written by the Flonorable Roljert C. Winthrop, as well as the less 
formal addresses of the occasion, was well worthy of the event and cal- 
culated to add,— if aught could add — to the fame of him who was " first 
in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 



^i'l 



Hl^TOllY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER LXXI. 



CLEVELAND'S ADMINLSTRATION, 1S8S— 

G1 ROVER CLEVELAND, twenty-second President of the United 
' States, was born at Caldwell, New Jersey, on the ISth of Marcli, 
1837. Three years afterward he was taken by his father and mother 
to Fayetteville, near Syracuse, New York. Here in his boyhood he 
received such limited education as the schools of the place afforded. 
For a while in his youth he was clerk in a village store. Afterward 

the family removed lirst to Clinton 
and then to Holland Patent. At 
the latter place his father died, 
and young Cleveland, left to his 
own resources, went to New York 
and became a teacher in a blind 
asylum, in which an elder brother 
held a like position. After a short 
time, however, the young man 
finding such a pursuit uncongenial 
to his tastes, went to Buffalo and 
engaged in the study of law. He 
was admitted to the bar in 1859, 
and four years afterward began 
his public career as assistant dis- 
trict-attorney. Li 1869 he was 
elected sheriff of Erie County, 
and in 1881 was chosen mayor of 
Buffalo. 

Mr. Cleveland's next promotion 
by liis fellow-citizens was to the 
governorship of New York, to whicli position he was elected in 1882 
by the astonishing majority of 192,s5-4— the majority being, perhaps, 
unparalleled in the history of American elections. It was M'hile he 
still held this office that, in July of 1884, he was called by the Demo- 
cratic national contention to be the .standard-bearer of his party in the 
presidential contest. 




GKOVEr: CLEVELAND. 



CLEVELAND'S ADMINISTRATION. 



673 



The first duty of the new chief executive was to frame his cabinet. 
Public interest was not a little excited with the probabilities of the 
President's choice. On the day following the inauguration the nomi- 
nations were sent to the Senate, and were as follows : for secretary of 
state, Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware ; for secretary of the treasury, 
Daniel Manning, of 
New York ; for sec- 
retary of the interi- 
or, Lucius Q. C. La- 
mar, of Mississippi ; 
for secretary of war, 
Wm. C. Endicott, of 
Massachusetts ; for 
secretary of the' na- 
vy, Wm. C. Whit- 
ney, of New York ; 
for postmaster-gen- 
eral, Wm. F. VHas, 
of Wisconsin ; for at- 
torney-general, Au- 
gustus H. Garland, 
of Arkansas. The 
peculiarity of the ap- 
pointments was that 
two of them were 
from NewYork ; but 
the prejudice which 
might arise on this 
account was fully 
counter-balanced by 
the high character 
and undoubted abil- 
ities of the men 
whom the President 
had chosen as the responsible advisers of his administration. 

The most serious question which confronted the new President, 
was the distribution of official patronage. The Democratic party had 
come into power on a platform distinctly enunciating the doctrine of 
reform in the civil service. From almost the beginning of the gov- 
ernment, it had been the custom of the party in power to distribute 

to its own partisans all the appointive offices. This usage, well estab- 
43 




THOMAS F. BATAED. 



OU 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 




THOMAS A. HENDRICKS. 

it became all imjxirtaiit that lioth tlic 
ate, at least by professions of sj'iii- 
patliy, the growing phalanx of 
civil service reformers. They it 
was who, in the late election, be- 
lieving in the sincerity of Mr. 
Clcvelanch had thrown their in- 
fluence in his favor and thereby 
secured his elevation to tlie pres- 
ide^c^^ He went into office 
pledged to carry out the views of 
those by whose suffrages he liad 
been raised to power. These 
views, moreover, were his own, 
and it thus happened that the 
new administration was launched 
with " Civil Service Reform " in- 
ecribed on its pennon. It was 



oommant 



lished since the daye 
of President Jackson, 
had been the origin 
and canse of the great- 
er part of the abuses 
which had existed in 
the various depai't- 
ments of the govern- 
ment. Extreme party 
men had claimed al- 
ways that " to the vic- 
tors belong the spoils " 
of office. Of late 
years,- however, the 
best political opinion 
of the country has 
turned with disgust 
from the gross practice 
(if rewarding men for 
mere ])arty services ; 
and in the evenly bal- 
anced presidential con- 
tests of 1880 and 1884- 
larties should conciH- 




OEORGE n. McCLELLAN. 



CLEVELAND'^ ADMimsTIiA TION. 



675 




4MBK0SK E. BllCXSIDE. 



eoon seen, however, that the President would liave serious difficulty 
in carrying out his purpose. From the day of the inauguration, 

a great crowd of office-seekers 
thronged the capital, and the chief 
magistrate was besieged by Imn- 
dreds and thousands of those whose 
principal claims to preferment were 
that they had served the party. 
During the first year of the new 
administration it was a grave ques- 
tion whether or not the President 
would be able to stand by the flag 
of reform, or whether he would be 
(h'iven to re-adopt the cast-oif policy 
(if satisfying with official appoint- 
ments the hungry horde that surged 
around the presidential mansion. 

The last years of the Republic 
have been noted for two circum- 
stances, both of historical interest, and l)Oth relating to the Civil War. 
The first of these is the revival of the memory of that conflict, in au- 
thoritative publications, by some of the leading i)articipants. This 
work, so important to the right understanding of the great strug- 
gle for and against the Union, 
was begun by General AVilliam 
T. Sherman, who, in 1875, pub- 
lished his Memoii's, narrating 
the story of that part of the war 
in which he had been a leader. 
This had been preceded by the 
history of the Wae between 
THE States, by Alexander H. 
Stephens, late Vice-President of 
the Confederacy. In 1884 Gen- 
eral Grant began the publication 
of a series of war articles in the 
CenUiry Magazine, which at- 
tracted universal attention, and 
which led to the preparation and 
publication of his Memoirs in 
1885-86. Similar contributions jo.sei'h hooker. 




676 



IIiarORT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



by other eminent commanders of the Union and Confederate armies 
followed in succession, until a large amount of able and impartiallitera- 
ture was left on record for the instruction of after times. 

The second fact referred to is the death, within the compass of a 
single year, of a number of the great Union generals who had led 
their armies to victory in the War of the Hebellion. It was in the 
early summer of 1885 that the attention of the people was called 
away from public affairs by the announcement that the veteran Gen- 
eral Ulysses S. Grant 
had been stricken 
with a fatal malady, 
and that his days 
would be but few 
among the living. 
The heart of the Na- 
tion M-as greatly sad- 
dened by the intelli- 
ence ; but not even 
the sj'mpathy of a 
great people could 
l)revail against or 
even postpone the 
approaching hour of 
fate. The hero of 
Vicksburg and Ap- 
pomattox sank under 
the ravages of a ma- 
lignant cancer, which 
had fixed itself in 
his throat, and, on 
July 23. died at a summer cottage on Mount McGregor, New 
fork. His last days were hallowed by the sympathies of the Nation 
which he had so gloriously defended. The news of his death passed 
over the land like the shadow of a great cloud. Almost every city 
and hamlet showed, in some appropriate way, its emblems of grief. 
The funeral ceremonies equaled, if they did not surpass, any which 
had ever been witnessed. The procession in New York city was, 
perhaps, the most solemn and imposing pageant ever exhibited in 
honor of the dead. On August 8, the body of General Grant was 
laid to rest in Eiverside Park, overlooking the Hudson. There, on 
a summit, from which may be seen the great river and the metropolis 




WINFIELU .S. HANCOCK. 



CLEVELAND'S ADMINISTUA TION. 



677 



of the Nation, is the tomb of him whose courage and magnanimity in 
war will forever give him rank with the few master spirits who, by 
their heroic deeds, liave honored the human race and changed the 
course of history. 

Within less than three months from the funeral of Grant another 




GEORGE G. MEADE. 



distinguished Union general fell. Ou the 29th of October. General 
George B. McCIellan, first commander of the Army of the Potomac, 
at one time general-in-chief, subsequently Democratic candidate for 
the presidency, and at a later period governor of New Jersey, died 
at his home at St. Cloud, in that State. The conspicuous part which 
he had borne during the first two years of the Civil War, his eminent 
abilities as a soldier and civilian, and his unblemished character as a 



678 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

man and citizen, combined to lieigliten the estimate of his ilfe and 
services, and to evolve the sincerest expressions of national sorrow on 
the occasion of his deatli. 

After another Ijrief intci-val a tliird great military leader fell, in the 
person of General Wintield S. Hancock. Tiiis brave and generous 
commander was, at the time of his death, the senior major-general of 
the American army. Always a favorite with the people, he had, 
since the close of the war, occupied a cons])icuons place before the 
public. In 1880 he was the Democratic candidate for the presidency, 
and though defeated by (Tcneral Garfield, the defeat was without dis- 
honor. His death, which occurred at his home on Governor's Island, 
on the 9th of February, 18S6, was universally d( plored, and the pco])le 
omitted no mark of respect to the memory of him who, in the great 
struggle for the preservation of the Union, had been honored with 
the title of " Hero of Gettysburg." Thus have passed away the gal- 
lant generals of the Army of the Potomac. George B. McClellan, 
Ambrose E. Burnside, Joseph Hooker, George G. Meade, and 
Wiulield S. Hancock have one by one joined 

"Tlif iiinumorable caravan that moves 

To tluit mysterious realm where each shall take 

His chamber in the silent halls of death." 

Before the close of the year 1S86 still another, worthy to rank 
among the greatest of the Union commanders of the Civil War, 
ended his career on eartli. Late in December, Major-General John 
A. Logan, United States Senator from Illinois, fell sick at his home, 
called Calumet Place, in Washington City. His disease was rheu- 
matism, to which he had been subject at intervals since liis exposure 
and hardships in the early Western campaigns of the war. After a 
few days' illness he became suddenly worse, sank into a comatose con- 
dition, and on the 26tli of the month quietly l)reathed his last. His 
military and civil career had been distinguished in the highest degree. 
At the outbreak of hostilities, in 1861, few men did more than Logan 
to strengthen and unify the Union sentiment in the wavering Border 
States. His voice was a clarion, heard shrill and far above the con- 
fusion and uproar of the times. Besigning his seat in Congress he 
joined the first advance of the Union army, and fought in the battle 
of Bull Run. Without previous military training he rose rapidly to 
distinction, and became the volunteer general par excellence of the 
war. After the close of the conflict he returned to political life, and 
was chosen United States Senator from Illinois. In 1884 he was 



CLE VELAJSTD'S ADMINLS TRA TION. 



679 



nominated for the vice-presidenc}' on the Republican ticket with James 
G. Blaine. That ticket being defeated, he I'esumed his duties in the 
Senate, and remained at his post until his death. The ceremonies of 
his funeral and the general voice 
of the American press indicated 
in an unmistakable manner the 
enduring place which he had mer- 
ited and won in the alfections of 
the people. 

In the meantime a great civilian 
had fallen at his post of duty. On 
Nov. 25, 1885, Vice-President 
Thomas A. Hendricks, after what 
was supposed to be a trifling illness 
of a single day, died suddenly at his 
home in Indianapolis. The fatal 
message came in the form of paral- 
ysis. Not a moment's warning was 
given of the approach of that pale 
courier who knocks iiupartially at 
the door of the peasant and the 
portal of the great. The life of 
Mr. Hendricks had been one of 
singular purity, and the amenities of his character had been for 
many years conspicuous in the stormy arena of American politics. 
The goodness and greatness of the man, combined with his distinction 
as governor, senator, and vice-president, served to draw /"rom the peo- 
ple every evidence of public and private respect for his memory. 
The body of the dead statesman was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, 
near Indianapolis, the funeral pageant surpassing in grandeur and 
solemnity any other display of tlie kind ever witnessed in the Wes- 
tern States, except the funeral of Lincoln. 

The death of the Vice-President was soon followed by that of 
Horatio Seymour, of New York. On the 12th of February, 1886, 
this distinguished citizen, who had been governor of the Empire 
State, and, in 1868, candidate of the Democratic party for the presi- 
dency against General Grant, died at his home in Utica. He had 
reached the age of seventy-six, and, though for many years living in 
retirement, had never ceased to hold a large share of the attention of 
his fellow-citizens. Still more distinguished in reputation and ability 
was Samuel J. Tilden, also of the Empire State, who died at his home. 




JOHN A. LOOAN. 



680 



HISTORY OF TUB UNITED STA TBS. 



called Greystone, at Yonkers, near New York City, on the dtli of 
August, 1886. Mr. Tilden had lived to make a marked — perhaps inef- 
faceable — impression on the political thouglit of the epoch. lie had 
acquired within the lines of his own jiarty an influence and ascendency 
far greater than that of any other statesman of his times. His intel- 
lectual force could not be doubted, 
nor could it be claimed that he 
failed to apply his faculties assid- 
uously to the greatest political 
questions of the age. 

Mr. Tilden was born on the l-±th 
of February, 1814, and was thus 
in the 73d year of his age at the 
time of his death. He had been a 
])rominent figure in his native State 
for fully forty years, and had held 
many places of public trust and 
honor. In 1870-71 he was among 
the foremost in unearthing the 
astounding frauds and robberies 
which had been perpetrated on the 
city of New York, and in the fol- 
lowing year was sent to the General 
Assembly, where his services were 
invaluable. In 1874 he was elected 
Governor of New York by a inajoi-- 
ity of more than 50,000 votes. In the executive office he was one of the 
ablest and most thorough-going who ever occupied the gubernatorial 
chair of the State. In 1876 he was nominated for the presidency, and at 
the election of that year received a large majority of the popular vote, 
only failing of a majority in the electoral college because of the tactics 
of the leaders of the party in power. Neither he nor General Hayes 
was clearly elected, the Democrats having carried two or three States 
with the shot-gun, and the Eepublicans, by the aid of the Electoral 
Commission, having counted in the electoral votes of a State or two 
which they did not carry at all. After the contest Mr. Tilden retired 
to private life, but continued to guide the counsels of his party and to 
influence public opinion up to tiie date of his death. Perliaps one of 
his ablest — as it was his last — public paper was a general letter on the 
subject of " The Coast and Harbor Defenses of the United States," a 
jmblication which clearly led to the legislation of the Forty -ninth Con- 




SAMLEL J. TILDEN. 



CLEVELAND'S ADMINISTRA TION. 



681 



gress on that iiiiportaiit subject. Thus, within tiie space of less than 
eleven months, four of those eminent American statesmen who had 
been candidates of the Democratic party for the presidency of the 
United States, and the distinguished Vice-President recently chosen 
by tliat party to the second place of honor in the Government, had 
fallen from their places in the ranks of the living. 

To this list of the American great whose earthly activities have 
recently ended in death must still be added the illustrious name of 
Henry Ward Beecher. To liim, with little reservation, must be as- 
signed the first place among our 
orators and philanthropists. Nor 
is it likely that his equal in most 
of the sublime qualities of energ^^ 
and manhood will soon be seen 
aijain on the great stage of life. 
His personality was so large, so 
unique, and striking, as to consti- 
tute the man in some sense sui 
generis. His kind is rare in the 
world, and the circumstances which 
aided in his development have 
passed away. That fact in Amer- 
ican history — the institution of 
slavery — which brought out and 
displayed the higher jnoods of 
his anger and stormy eloquence 
cannot again arouse the indigna- 
tion of genius. The knight and 
his dangerous foil sleep together in 
the dust. 

Mr. Beecher had the happy fortune to retain his faculties unim- 
paired to the very close of his career. On the evening of the 5th of 
March, 1887, at his home in Brooklyn, surrounded by his family, with 
no premonition or portent, the message came by apoplexy. An artery 
broke in the magnificent, heavy brain, that had been for more than 
forty years one of the greatest batteries of thought and action in the 
world, and tiie aged orator, nearing the close of his seventy-fourth 
year, sank into that deep sleep from which no power on earth could 
wake him. He lived until the morning of the 8th, and quietly entered 
the shadows. The sentiments awakened by his death, the circum- 
stances of his sepulture, and the common eulogium of mankind, proved 




HENRY WARD BEKtHER. 



682 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



beyond doubt the supreme place which lie had occupied in the ad- 
miring esteem, not only of his own countrymen, but of all the great " 
peoples of the world. 

Another distinguished name to Ije added to the American necrology 
of the decade is that of Morrison Keniich Waite, Chief Justice of the 
United States. His death occurred at his home, in "Washington City, 

on the 23d day of March, 1S8S. 
The event suggests and justifies the 
addition of a few jjaragrajjhs rela- 
tive to the history and personnel 
of that great tribunal over which 
Judge AVaite presided during the 
last fourteen years of his life. 

In the formation of the Consti- 
tution of the United States it was 
intended that the three general de- 
jiurtments of the Government 
should be of correlative rank and 
iuHuence. The sequel, liowever, 
as developed and illustrated in the 
actual working of our national 
system, has shown that the execu- 
tive and legislative departments 
]>redominate, naturall}', perhaps in- 
evitably, over the judicial branch, 
and that, in the popular estimate, 
at least, the supreme court is of 
small importance as compared with the ]iresidency and the two houses of 
Congress. This disesteem of the judiciary is not verified by a broader 
and more philosophical view of the subject. The importance, 
especially, of the conservative 0]iiiiion of our great national court, in 
determining, at least negatively, the final validity of all legislati<in and 
of all subordinate judicial decisions, can hardly be overestimated. The 
same may be said of the supreme bench, considered as the only im- 
movable breakwater against the unscrupulous and rampant spirit of 
party. It is fortunate, moreover, that the offices of our chief justice 
and of the associate justiceships are appointive, and are thus removed, 
in great measure, from the perfidy of the convention and the passion 
of a partisan election. It maybe of interest to glance for a moment 
at some of the vicissitudes through which the supreme court has passed 
since its organization, in 17S9. 




MORKISON REMICH W.UTE. 



CLEVELAND'S ADMINL^TUATION. 683 

The court was then instituted by the appointment of John Jay as 
chief justice,* wlio held the office until 1796, when lie gave place to 
Oliver Ellsworth. The latter presided over the court until, in 1800, 
the infirmities of age compelled his resignation. Then came the long 
and honorable ascendency of Chief Justice John Marshall, who held the 
office from his appointment, in 1801, to his death, in 1835. This was 
the golden age of the supreme court. From 1835 to 1837 there was 
an interregnum in the chief justiceship, occasioned by the disagree- 
ment of President Jackson and the Senate of the United States; but, 
at the latter date, the president secured the confirmation of Judge 
Roger B. Taney as chief justice, who entered upon his long term of 
twenty-seven years. It was his celebrated decision in the case of the 
negro, Dred Scott, relative to the status of the slave race in America, 
that applied the torch to that immense heap of combustibles whose 
explosion was the Civil War. 

At the death of Chief Justice Taney, in 1864, President Lincoln ap- 
pointed as his successor Salmon P. Chase, recently secretary of the 
treasury, and author of most of the great financial measures and expe- 
dients by which the national credit had been buoyed up and preserved 
during the rebellion. His official term extended to his death, in 1873, 
and covered the period when the important issues arising from the 
Civil War were under adjudication. To Chief Justice Chase fell also, 
by virtue of his office, the duty of presiding at the impeachment trial 
of President Andrew Johnson. In 1874 the appointuient of Morrison 
R. Waite as chief justice was made by President Grant ; and the death 
of this able jurist devolved on President Cleveland and the Senate the 
duty of naming his successor. 

Chief Justice Waite was born at Lyme, Connecticut, on the 29tli 
of November, 1816. From the public school he was transferi'ed 
to Yale College, and was graduated from that institution in 1837- 
He then became a student of law, and, after completing his course, 
removed to Ohio, where he entered upon the practice of his profession 
at Manmee City. After serving one term, 1849-50, in the Legislature 
of the State, he removed to Toledo, which became henceforth his 
home, until his duties as chief justice called him to Washington City. 
He had been frequently solicited to become a candidate for office, but 
had adhered to his profession until 1871-72, when he accepted from 
President Grant the appointment as member of the celebrated Board 
of Arbitration, to sit at Geneva, in the adjudication of the Alabama 
Claims. Here he was associated with Charles Francis Adams, Caleb 
* For tlie organization of tlie first supreme bench see page 364. 



(584 niSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Cusliing and AVni. M. Evarts; and, tlioiigli lie was less known to the 
public than they, he nevertheless bore himself with honor among his 
colleagues. Shortly after his return the death of Chief Justice Chase 
opened the way for Mr. Waite's appointment to the highest and most 
important judicial seat in America; and to this august position he 
brought a character, talents and attainments equal to the responsi- 
bilities of his office. 

During his occupancy of the supreme bench Chief Justice Waite 
steadily rose in the esteem and conhdence of the nation. lie was not, 
perhaps, a man of the highest order of genius or of the very highest 
rank as a jurist. But, on the whole, the office of chief justice was 
i-arely, if ever, more worthily borne than by its latest occupant. He 
was a man of equable and judicial temper, little disposed, if dis- 
posed at all, to look beyond the supreme bench to a possibly higher 
seat. His death was from pneumonia, and was so sudden as to be an- 
nounced to the country .by the same dispatches which gave lirst in- 
formation of his serious sickness. He died peacefully, at his home. 
His funeral was held first in the hall of the House of Representatives, 
and afterward from his old residence in Toledo, at which city his 
remains were finally committed to the tomb. 

The death of Chief Justice Waite made way for the return to the 
supreme judicial office in the United States of some member of the 
political party which has long been out of power. Since the epoch 
of the Civil War the court lias been tilled almost exclusively with 
judges who, by political affiliation, have belonged to the Republican 
party. The first distinctly Democratic appointment which has been 
made in the last quarter of a century was the recent one of Judge 
Lucius Q. C. Lamar, M'ho by the nomination of President Cleveland 
was transferred from the secretaryship of the interior to the supreme 
bench. It has thus happened, in the vicissitude of things, that the 
two political theories which were opposed to each other in the 
war for the Union, and are still opposed by party name, have 
become confluent in the high court of the nation. This circumstance 
lias been to some a source of alarm and prejudice ; but the hope may 
be well entertained that partisan dispositions are less potent Jind 
dangerous — if indeed they assert themselves at all — on the supreme 
bench of the United States. Tims far in its history the court has, as 
a rule, been as pure in its administration and methods as it has been 
great in reputation. The muddy waters of party conflict have only 
occasionally reached as iiigh as the threshold of our honored tribunal ; 
and the fear that it may be otherwise hereafter may hopefully be put 



CLEVELAND'S ADMINISTRATION. 



r.85 







aside as a groundless and spectral chimera of the hour. On May 1, 
1888, the President appointed Melville W. Fuller, of Chicago, to the 
vacant chief justiceship. 

The impression produced by the death of Chief Justice Waite 
iiad scarcely passed when the decease of another citizen, most noted 
for high character and great talents, again called the public attention to 
the rapid disappearance of the nation's most distinguished represent- 
atives. On the ISth of April, at the Hoffman House, New York 
city, Hon. Eoscoe Conkling, ex-Senator of the United States, died 
after a brief and painful illness. A _ 

local inflammation resulting in the 
formation of a pus-sack under the 
mastoid bone of the skull led to 
the cutting of the skull in hope of 
saving Mr. Conkling's life ; but he 
succumbed to the fatal malady ami 
shock of the operation. 

Roscoe Conkling was born in 
Albany, N. Y., on the 30th of Octo- 
ber, 1829. After the completion 
of an academic course of study he 
went as a student of law to Utica 
in 1846. On reaching his majority 
he was admitted to the bar, and was 
soon afterward appointed to the 
office of County Attorney. From 
the beginning of his career his 
great talents and remarkable force 
of character were manifest. He 
made a profound impression first upon the local and then upon the 
general society of New York. In 1858 he was Mayor of Utica, and 
in the same year was sent to the national House of Representatives. 
He had already- become an able politician, and was soon recognized as 
the leader of the Republican party in his native State. His rise was 
I'apid, and his influence became marked in the affairs of the Govern- 
ment. He served for six years in tlie lower House, and in 1866 was 
elected to the Senate. In that body he aspired to leadership and grad- 
ually attained it, though not without many struggles and contests with 
the great men of the epoch. He was twice re-elected Senator — in ISTS 
and 1878 ; but in his third term, namely, in 1881, he found himself in 
siich relations with the Garfield administration as indiTced him to resign 




KOSCOE CONKLIXU. 



686 HISTORY OF TUB UNITED STATES. 

liis seat. This step was regarded by many as tlie mistake of his poht- 
ical life. At any rate, he failed of a re-election, the administration 
party getting control of the Legislature of New York and sending 
another in his place. After that date Mr. Conkling retired to private 
life and took up with the greatest success the practice of his ^irofession 
in New York city. 

Roscoe Conkling was a man of the highest courage and stanchest 
convictions. He never shone to greater advantage than when leading 
the forces of General Grant in the Chicago Convention of 18S0. He 
was a horn ]iolitical general. His will and persistency and pride gave 
him a power which, if it had been tempered with greater urbanity, 
could hardly liave failed to crown his life with the highest honors of 
the nation. His talents rose to the region of genius, and his presence 
was magnificent — an inspiration to his friends, a terror to his enemies. 
As a summary of the results of his career it may be said that at the 
time of his death none except his eminent rival, Mr. Blaine, might 
justly contest with him the proud I'ank of most distinguished private 
citizen of the United States. 

Meanwhile, in the sjiring of 1S86, had occurred one of the most 
serious labor agitations which had ever been witnessed in the United 
States. It were difficult to ])resent an adequate statement of the 
causes, general and special, which pi'oduced these alarming troubles. 
Not until after the close of the Civil War did there appear the first 
symptoms of a renewal, in the New World, of the struggle which has 
been going on for so long a time in Europe between the laboring classes 
and the capitalists. It had been hoped that such a conflict would never 
be renewed in the countries west of the Atlantic. Such a hope, how- 
ever, was doomed to disappointment. The first well-marked symptoms 
of the appearance of serious labor strikes and insurrections occurred 
as early as 1867. The origin of these difficulties was in the coal and 
iron producing regions of Pennsylvania and in some of the great 
manufactories of New England. For a while the disturbances pro- 
duced but little alarm. It was not until the great railroad strike of 
1877 that a general apprehension was excited with respect to the 
unfriendly relations of labor and capital. In the following year much 
uneasiness existed, but the better times, extending from 1879 to 1882, 
with the consequent favorable rate of wages, tended to remove, or at 
least to postpone, the renewal of trouble. 

A series of bad crops ensued, and the average ability of the people 
to purchase was correspondingly diminished. The speculative mania, 
liowevcr, did not cease, and the large amounts of capital withdrawn 



CLEVELAND'S ADMINISTRATION. 687 

from legitimate production and lost in visionary enterprises still 
further reduced the means of employing labor. Stagnation ensued in 
business ; stocks declined in value ; manufactories were closed, and the 
difficulty of obtaining employment was greatly enhanced. 

While these causes, half-natural, half-artificial, were at work, others, 
wholly fictitious, but powerful in their evil results, began to operate in 
the creation of strife and animosity. Monopolies grew and flourished 
to an extent hitherto unknown in the United States. On the other 
hand, labor discovered the salutary but dangerous power of combina- 
tion. A rage for organizing took possession of the minds of the 
laboring men of the country, and to the arrogant front of monopoly 
was opposed the insurrectionary front of the working classes. 

More serious still than the causes here referred to was the intro- 
duction into the United States of a large mass of ignorant foreign 
labor. The worst elements of several European States contributed 
freely to the manufactories and M'orkshops of America, and a class of 
ideas utterly un-American became dominant in many of the leading 
establishments of the country. Communistic theories of society and 
anarchic views of government began to clash with the more sober 
republican opinions and practices of the people. To all this must be 
added the evils and abuses which seem to be incident to the wage 
system of labor, and are, perhaps, inseparable therefrom. The result 
has been a growing jealousy of the two great parties to production 
the laborer and the capitalist. 

The opening of trade for the season of 18S6 witnessed a series of 
strikes and labor imbroglios in all parts of the country. Such troubles 
were, however, confined for the most part to the cities and towns 
where labor was aggregated. The first serious trouble occurred on 
what is known as the Gould system of railways, reaching from the 
Mississippi to tiie south-west. A single workman, belonging to the 
Knights of Labor, and emploj'ed on a branch of the Texas Pacific 
Railway, at that time under a receivership, and therefore beyond the 
control of Ja^' Gould and his subordinates, was discharged from bis 
place. This action was resented by the Knights, and the laborers on a 
great part of the Gould system were ordered to strike. The move- 
ment was, for a season, successful, and the transportation of freights 
from St. Louis to the south-west ceased. Graduallv, however, other 
workmen were substituted for the striking Knights; the movement of 
freights was resumed, and the strike ended in comparative failure ; but 
this end was not reached until a severe riot in East St. Louis had 
occasioned the sacrifice of several innocent lives. 



688 insTonr of the united states. 

Far more alarming was the outbreak in Cliicago. In tliat city the 
socialistic and anarchic elements were sufficiently powerful to present a 
bold front to the authorities. Processions bearing red flags and banners, 
with communistic devices and mottoes, frequently paraded the streets, 
and were addressed by demagogues wlio avowed themselves the open 
enemies of society and the existing order. On the 4th of May a vast 
crowd of this reckless material collected in a place called the Hay- 
market, and were about to begin the usual inflammatory proceedings, 
when a band of ]iolicenien, mostly otiicers, drew near, with the 
evident purpose of controlling or dispersing the meeting. A ter- 
rible scene ensued. Dynamite bombs were thrown from the crowd 
and exploded among the oflicers, several of whom were blown to pieces 
and others shockingly mangled. The mob was, in turn, attacked by 
the police, and many of the insurgents were shot down. Order was 
presently restored in the city ; several of the leading anarchists were 
arrested and held for trial on the charge of inciting to murder, and 
measures were taken to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies as 
had been witnessed in the Ilaymarket Square. On the following day 
a similar, though less dangerous, outbreak occurred in Milwaukee ; 
but in this city the insurrectionary movement was suppressed without 
serious loss of life. The attention of the American people — let us 
hope to some good end — was called, as never before, to the danger- 
ous relations existing between the upper and nether sides of our 
munici|)al populations. 

The summer of 1886 is memorable on account of that great natural 
phenomenon, known as the Charleston earthquake. On the night of 
the 31st of August, at ten minutes before ten o'clock, it was discovered 
at Washington City, and at several other points where weather and 
signal stations were established, that communications with Charleston, S. 
C, were suddenly cut off. The discovery was made by inquiries relative to 
the origin of a shock which had that moment been felt with varying 
degrees of violence throughout nearly the whole country east of the 
Mississi])pi and south of the great lakes. In a few minutes it was 
found that no telegraphic communication from any side could be had 
with Charleston, and it was at once perceived that that city had suffered 
from the convulsion. Measures wore hastily devised for further in- 
vestigation, and the result showed that the worst apprehensions were 
verified. Without a moment's warning the city had been rocked and 
rent to its veiy foundations. Hardly a building in the limits of 
Charleston or in the country surrounding had escaped serious injury, 
and perhaps one-half of all were in a state of semi-wreck or total I'uin. 



CLEVELAND'S ADMINISTRATIONS. 689 

No sucli scene of devastation and terror fi'om a like cause had ever 
before been witnessed within tlie limits of the United States. 

Many scientists of national reputation hurried to the scene and 
made a careful scrutiny of the phenomenon with a view of contributing 
something to the exact knowledge of mankind respecting the causes 
and character of earthquakes. One or two points were determined 
with tolerable accuracy. One was, that the point of origin, called the 
epicentei", of the great convulsion had been at a place about twenty 
miles from Charleston, and that the motion of the ea.rth immediately 
over this center had been nearly up and down — tha^ is, vertical. A 
second jjoint tolerably well established M^as that the ji.wseismic lines, 
or lines of equal disturbance, might be drawn around the epicenter in 
circles very nearly concentric, and that the circle of greatest disturb- 
ance was at some distance from the center. Still a third item of 
knowledge tolerably well established was that away from die epicenter 
— as illustrated in the ruins of Charleston — the agitatiof of the earth 
was not in the nature of a single shock or convulsion, as a dropping or 
sliding of the region to one side, but rather a series of very quid: and 
violent oscillations, by which the central country of the disturbance 
was in the course of some five minntes settled somewhat to seaward. 

The whole coast in the central region of the disturbance was modi- 
fied with respect to the sea, and the ocean itself was thrown into tur- 
moil for leagues from the shore. The people of the city were in a state 
of utmost consternation. The people fled from their falling houses to 
the public squares and parks and far into the country. Afraid to 
return into the ruins they threw up tents and light booths for protec- 
tion and abode for weeks away from their homes. The convulsion 
was by far the greatest that this continent has experienced within 
the historical epoch. Nothing before in the limits of our knowledge 
has been at all comparable with it in extent and violence except the 
great earthquake of New Madrid, in 1811. The disaster to Charles- 
ton served to bring out some of the better qualities of our civiliza- 
tion. Assistance came from all quarters, and contributions poured 
in for the support and encouragement of the afflicted people. For 
several weeks a series of diminishing shocks continued to terrify the 
citizens and paralyze the efforts at restoration. But ifwas discovered 
in the course of time that these shocks were only the dying away of 
the great convulsion, and that they gave cause for hope of entire cessa- 
tion rather than continued alarm. In a lapse of a few months th« 
debris was cleared away, business was resumed, and the people were 
again safe in their homes. 
44 



C90 llI.'yTOItY OF THE VKITED STATES. 

On tlie 4tli of Marcli, 1887, tlic second session of tlie Forty-ninth 
Conirress expired liy statutory limitation. The work of tlie body had 
not been so fruitful of results as had been desired and anticipated by 
the friends of the <^overnnient ; Init some important letjislation had 
been effected. ( )n the question of the tariff nothiiiu' of value was accom- 
plished. True, a serious measure of revenue reform had ijeeu brought 
forwai-d at an eai'ly date in the session, but owing tfi the opposition of 
that wing of the Democratic party headed by Hon. Samuel J. Ran- 
dall, and committed to tlie doctrine of jirotection, as well as to the 
antaaiiuism of the Republican majority in the Senate, the act failed of 
adtiptiiin. In fact, by the beginning of 1887 it Jiad become apparent 
that the existing political parties could nc.it i)e foix'e<l to align on the 
issue, of free trade and tai-iff, and as a result no legislation looking 
to any actual reform in the current revenue system of the United 
States could be carried through Congress. 

On the cpiestion of extending the Pension List, however, the case 
was diilercnt. A great majority of both parties could always be 
counted on to favor such measures as looked to the increase of benefits 
to the soldiers. At the first, only a limited numlier of pensions had 
been granted, and these only to actually disaljled and injured veterans 
of the War for the Fnidii. AVirh the lapse of time, however, and the 
I'elaxation of party allegiance, it became more and more important to 
each of the parties to secure and hold tlie soldier vote, without which 
it was felt that neithei' cunld maintain ascendency in the governmetit. 
Xtir can it be denied that genuine patriotic sentiment and gi-atitude of 
the nation to its defenders coincided in this respect with political 
andiition and selfishness. The Ari'cars of Pensions Act, making up 
to those who were already recipients of pensions such amounts ii^ 
would have accrued if the lienefit had dated from the time of dis- 
ability, instead of fi'om the time of granting the pension, was passed in 
1S7(). and at the same time the list of beneticiaries was greatly enlarged. 

The measure presented in the Forty-ninth Congress was designed 
to extend the pension list so as to inclnde all regularly enlisted and 
honorably discharged soldiers of the Civil War who had become in 
whole or in part dependent upon the aid of others for their mainte- 
nance and welfare. The measure was known as the Dependent Pen- 
sions Bill, and though a few had the courage to oppose the enactment 
of a law which appeared to Jiing away the bounty of the government 
to the deserving and the undeserving, the evil and the just alike, and 
to compel the worthy and lionorable recipients of pensions who had 
actually siili'ei'ed in the war to raidv themselves in the same category 



CLEVELAND'S ADMINISTRA TION. (JDl 

■with the thriftless, tlie unpatriotic, and tlie improvident, who, having 
been in the army, liad afterward come to grief tlirongli their own laclc 
of enterprise and frugality ; yet a majority was easily obtained for the 
measure in botli Houses, and the act was passed. President Cleve- 
land, however, interposed his veto, and the proposed law fell to tlie 
ground. A streimous effort was made in the House of Represent- 
atives to pass the bill over the veto ; but the movement failed. 

By far the most important and noted piece of legislation of the 
session was incorporated in the act known as the Inter-State Commerce 
Bill. For some fifteen years complainis against tlie methods and man- 
agement of the railways of the United States had l)een heard on many 
sides, and in cases Tiot a few tlie complaints had originated in actual 
abuses, some of which were willful, bnt most were merely incidental 
to tlie development of a system so vast and, on the whole, so Ijene- 
ficial to the public. In such a state of affairs the lasting benefit is 
always forgotten in the accidental hurt_. That large class of people 
who, in despite of the teachings of history, still believe in the cure of 
all things by law, and that mankind are always about to perish for want 
of more legislation, became clainoi'ous in their demand that Congress 
should take the railways by the throat and compel them to accept 
what may be called the system of nniforniity as it respects all charges 
for service rendered. It was believed in Congress that to take up this 
call, and cliampion the alleged cause of the people, would be one of 
the most popular measures of the period. The Inter-State Com- 
merce Bill was, accordingly, prepared, with a multitude of lengthy 
and involved clauses requiring a commission of great lawyers for their 
interpretation. It was enacted that all freight carriage across State 
lines within the Union should be at the same rate per hundred for all 
distances, and between ail places, and under substantially the same 
conditions, and that passenger fares should, be uniform for all 
persons. It must be borne in mind that, in the very nature of things, 
railways are unable to carry freight at as small a rate per hundred, or 
passengers at as small a charge per mile, between places approximate as 
between places at gi'eat distances. It must also be remembered that 
in some regions it is many times more expensive to build and operate 
a railroad tlian in Jthers. To carry one of these great thoroughfares 
over the Rocky Mountains is a very different thing from stretching a 
similar track across the level prairies of Illinois. It must still further 
be considered that, in the nature of the ease, competition will do its 
legitimate and inevitable work at an earlier date and more thoroughly 
between great cities, even when remotely situated, than between uniin- 



602 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

jjortaiit points, however near togetlier. The traffic and travel bet\ve;;n 
two villages is not sufficient to create competition among the carriers. 
It is as absurd to suppose that railway tariffs can be the same between 
Ne\v York and Chicago as they are between two Missouri towns, as it 
is to suppose that butter can command the same price in an Iowa vil- 
lage that it does in the Quincy Market of Boston. What should be said 
of an attempt in Congress to make the price of wheat and pork 
uniform throughout the United States ? 

The Inter-State Commerce Bill was conceived against all the 
natural, manifest and undeniable principles of the commercial world. 
It was passed with the belief that all discriminations in the charges 
made by railways doing business in more than one State could be pre- 
vented by law. It was passed as if to amend or abrogate those natural 
laws of trade and traffic which in their kind are as absolute, and as 
beneficial, as the law of gravitation. It was passed with the ulterior 
design of securing to its promoters the support of that ignorant and 
embittered race of men M'hose prejudices are out of all proportion to 
their knowledge of human rights, or their recognition of the par- 
amount interests of the whole people. It was passed under the per- 
nicious anti-democratic theory of governmental paternalism, which says 
that men are infants or imbeciles, unaljle to care for themselves unless 
they are fed and led and coddled by some motherly government of which 
they are the irresponsible offspring. It is safe to say that no other 
measure ever adopted by the American Congress has been so difficult 
of application, or has thrown the eonunercial affairs of the country into 
so great disorder. The one redeeming featui-e of the case has been, 
and is, that they who, by the passage of so preposterous a series of 
enactments, thought to crown themselves with laurel, came forth wear- 
ing a diadem of weeds and cactus. 

During the whole of Cleveland's administration the public mind 
was swayed and excited by the movements of politics. The univer- 
sality of partisan newspapers, the comljination in their columns of all 
the news of the world with the invectives, misrepresentations, and 
countercharges of party leaders, kept political questions constantly 
uppermost, to the detriment of social progress and industrial interests. 
Scarcely had President Cleveland entered upon his office as chief magis- 
trate when the question of the succession to the Presidency was agitated. 
The echoes of the election of 18S4 had not died awa}" before the 
rising nmrmur of that of 1888 was heard. 

By the last year of the current administration it was seen that 
there would be no general break-up of the existing parties. It was 



CLEVELAND'S ADMLNI8TBATI0N. 693 

also perceived that tlie issues between them must be made, rather than 
found in the existing state of affairs. The sentiment in the United 
States in favor of the Constitutional prohibition of the manufacture 
and sale of intoxicating liquors had become somewhat extended and 
intensified since the last quadrennial election. But the discerning eye 
might perceive that the real issue was between the Republican and 
Democratic parties, and that the questions involved were to be rather 
those of the past than of tlie future. 

One issue, however, presented itself which had a living and prac- 
tical relation to affairs, and that was the question of Pkotection to 
American Industry. Since the campaign of 1884, the agitation had 
been gradually extended. At the opening of the session, in 1887, the 
President, in his annual message to Congress, departed from all prece- 
dent, and devoted the whole document to the discussion of the sinsle 
question of a Reform of the Revenihe System of the United States. 
The existing rates of duty on imported articles of commerce had so 
greatly augmented the income of the Government that a large surplus 
had accumulated, and was still accumulating, in the treasury of the 
United States. This fact was made the basis of the President's argu- 
ment in favor of a new system of revenue, or at least an ample reduc- 
tion in the tariff rates under the old. It was immediately charged by 
the Repulilicans that the project in question meant the substitution of 
the system of free trade in the United States as against the system of 
protective duties. The question thus involved was made the bottom 
issue in the Presidential campaign of 1888. 

As to the nominees of the various parties, it was from the first a 
foregone conclusion that Mr. Cleveland would be nominated for re-elec- 
tion by the Democrats. The result justified the expectation. The 
Democratic National Convention was held in St. Louis, on the 5th day 
of June, 1888, and Mr. Cleveland was re-nominated by acclamation. 
For the Vice-Presidential nomination there was a considerable contest ; 
but, after son:e balloting, tlie choice fell on ex-Senator Allen G. Thur- 
man, of Ohio. The Republican National Convention was held in Chi- 
cago, on the 19th day of June. Many candidates were ardently pressed 
upon the body, and the contest was long and spirited. It was believed, 
up to the time of the Convention, that ]\Ir. Blaine, who was evidently 
the favorite of a great majority, would be again nominated for the 
Presidency. But the antagonisms which that statesman had awakened 
in his own party made it imprudent to bring him forward again as the 
nominee. His name was accordingly not presented to the Convention. 
Tlie most prominent candidates were Senator John Sherman, of Ohio ; 



694 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Judge Walter Q. Greshaiii, of Chicago ; Chauiicey M. Depew, of New 
York ; ex-Governor Russel A. Alger, of Michigan ; ex-Senator Benja- 
min Harrison, of Indiana ; and Senator William B. Allison, of Iowa. 
The "S'oting was continued to the eighth liallot, when the choice fell 
upon Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana. In the evening Levi P. Morton, 
of New York, was nominated for the \'iee- Presidency on the first Ijallot. 

In the meantime the Prohibition party had held its National Con- 
venti<.)n at Indianapolis, and on the 3()th of May had nominated for 
the Pi-esideney General Clinton B. Fisk, of New Jersey, and for the 
Vice-Presidency John A. Brooks, of Missouri. The Democratic j)lat- 
form declared for a reform of the revenue system of the United States, 
and re-athrmed the jtrinciple of adjusting the tariff on imports with 
strict regard to the actual needs of governmental expenditure. The 
Bejniblican platform declared also for a reform of the tariff schedule, 
but at the same time stoutly affirmed the maintenance of the pro- 
tective system, as such, as a part of the permanent policy of the United 
States. Both pai'ties deferred to the patriotic sentiment of the country 
in favor of the soldiers, their rights and interests, and both endeavored 
by the tisual incidental circumstances of the hour to gain the advantage 
of the other before the American people. The Prohibitionists entered 
the campaign on the distinct proposition that the manufacture and sale 
of intoxicating liquors .should be prohibited throughout the United 
States by Constitutional amendment. To this was added a clause in 
favor of extending the right of suffrage to women. 

As the canvass progressed during the summer and autumn of 1888 
it became evident that tlie result was in doubt. The contest was exceed- 
ingly close. As in 1S8(> and 1884, the critical States were New York, 
Connecticut, New Jersey, and Indiana. In all of the other Northern 
States the Republicans were almost certain to win, while the Democrats 
were equally certain of success in all the South. In the last weeks of 
the campaign General Harrison grew in favt>r, and his party gained 
perceptibly to the close. The result showed success for the Repuljlican 
candidate. He received 233 electoral votes, against ItiS votes for Mr. 
Cleveland. The latter, however, appeared to a better advantage on the 
popular count, having a considerable majority over General Harrison. 
General Fisk, the Prohibition candidate, received neai-ly three hun- 
dred thousand votes ; but under the system of voting no electoral \-ote 
of any State was obtained for him in the so-called " College," by which 
the actual choice is made. As soon as the result was known the excite- 
ment attendant upon the campaign subsided and political questions 
gave place to other interests. 



CLEVELAND'S ADMINiaTRATION. 695 

The last days of Cleveland's administration and of the Fiftieth 
Congress were signalized by the admission into the Union of Fouk 
New States, making the number forty-two. Since the incoming of 
Colorado, in 1876, no State had been added to the Eepublic. Mean- 
while the tremendous tides of population had contimied to flow to the 
west and north-west, rapidly tilling up the great Territories. Of these 
tlie greatest was Dakota, with its area of 150,932 square miles. In 
1887 the question of dividing the Territory by a line running east and 
west was agitated, and the measure finally prevailed. Steps were taken 
bj' the people of both sections for admission into the Union. Montana, 
with her 145,776 square miles of territory, had meanwhile acquired a 
sufficient population ; and Washington Territory, with its area of 
69,994 square miles, also knocked for admission. In the closing days of 
the Fiftieth Congress a bill was passed raising all these four Territories 
— South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and "Washington — to the 
plane of Statehood. The Act contemplated the adoption of State 
Constitutions, and a proclamation of admission by the next President. 
It thus happened that the honor of bringing in this great addition to the 
States of tlie Union was divided between the outgoing and incoming 
administrations. 

Another Act of Congress was also of national importance. Hith- 
erto the government had been administered through seven departments, 
at the head of each of which was placed a Cabinet officer, the seven 
together constituting the advisers of the President. No provision for 
such an arrangement exists in the Constitution of the United States ; 
but the statutes of the Nation provide for such a system as most in 
accordance with the republican form of government. Early in 1889 
a measure was brought forward in Congress and adopted for the institu- 
tion of a new department, to be called the Department of Agriculture. 
Practically the measure involved the elevation of what had previously 
been an Agricultural Bureau in the Department of the Interior to the 
rank of a Cabinet office. Among foreign nations France has been con- 
spicuous for the patronage which the Government has given to the 
agricultural pursuits of that country. Hitherto in the United States, 
tlioiigh agriculture has been the greatest of all the producing interests 
of the people, it has been neglected for more pohtical and less useful 
departments of American life and enterprise. By this act of Congress 
the Cabinet offices were increased in number to eight instead of seven. 



696 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER LXXII. 



HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1SS9 . 

BENJAMIN HARRISON, twenty-third President of tlie United 
States, was born at Nortli Bend, (.)hio, on the 2(ltli of Angust, 
1833. He is the son of Jolm Scott Harrison, a prominent citizen of liis 
native State ; grandson of President William Henry Harrison ; great- 
grandson of Benjamin Harrison, signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. In countries wliei'e attention is paid to honorable lineage 

the circumstances of General Har- 
rison's descent would be considered 
of much importance ; but in Amer- 
ica little attention is paid to one's 
ancestry, and more to himself. 

Harrison's early life was passed 
as that of other American boys, 
in attendance at school and at 
home duties on the farm. He was 
a student at the institution called 
Farmers' College for two years. 
Afterwards he attended Miami 
University, at Oxford, Ohio, and 
was graduated therefrom in June, 
1852. He took in marriage the 
daughter of Dr. Jolm W. Scott, 
President of the University. After a course of study he entered the 
profession of law, removing to Indianapolis and establishing himself 
in that city. With the outlireak of the War he became a soldier of the 
Uni<jn, and rose to the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General of ^'olunteers. 
Before the close of the War he was elected Reporter of Decisions of 
the Supreme Court of Indiana. 

In tlie period following the Civil War General Harrison rose to dis- 
tinction as a civilian. In 1876 he was the unsuccessful candidate of 
the Republican party for Governor of Indiana. In 1881 he was elected 
to the United States Senate, where he won the reputation of a leader 
and statesman. In 1884 his name was prominently mentioned in con- 




BESJAMIN HAliRlSON. 



HARRISONS ADMINISTRATION. 



097 



nection with the Presidential nomination of liis party, but Mr. Blaine 
was suceessful. After the lapse of four years, however, it was foinid 
at Chicago that General Harrison, more than any otlier, eoinhined in 
himself all the elements of a successful candidate ; and the event justi- 
fied the choice of the party in making hiin the standard-l^earer in the 
ensuing campaign. 

Genei'al Han-ison was, in accordance with the usages of the Gov- 
ernment, inaugurated President on the -tth of March, 1889. He had 
succeeded better than any of his predecessors in keeping his own coun- 
sels during the interim between his election and the inaugtiration. No 
one had discerned his purposes, and all waited with interest the ex- 
pressions of his Inaugural Ad- 
dress. In that document he set 
forth tiie policy which he should 
favor as the chief executive, 
recommending the same general 
measures which the Republican 
party had advocated during the 
campaign. 

On the day following tiie in- 
augural ceremonies President Har- 
rison sent in the nominations for 
his Cabinet officers, as •follows: 
for Secretary of State, James G. 
Blaine, of Maine ; for Secretary 
of the Treasury, William Windom, 
of Minnesota ; for Seci-etary of 

War, Redfield Proctor, of Vermont ; for Secretary of tiie Navy, Ben- 
jamin F. Tracy, of New York ; for Postmaster-Cnreneral, John Wana- 
maker, of Pennsylvania ; for Secretary of tlie Interior, John W. Noble, 
of Missouri ; for Attorney-(4enera], William H. H. Miller, of Indiana ; 
and for Secretary of Agriculture — the new department — Jeremiah 
Rusk, of Wisconsin. These appointments were immediately con- 
firmed by the Senate, and tlie members of the new administration 
assumed their respective official duties. 

Within two months after Harrison's inauguration an event oc- 
curred which might well recall to the mind of the American people 
the striking incidents in the liistory of the Revolutionary Epoch. The 
event in question was the great Centennial Celebration of the Inaugu- 
ration of Washington, first President of the United States. The same 
was commemorated in many parts of the country ; but the supreme 




JAMES G. BLAINE. 



008 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

event was in New York city, and tiie ceremonies connected there- 
with were associated, as far as practicable, with tiie scenes of the 
first inaiignration. These circumstances may well call fortli not 
only some descriptive account of the celebration itself, but also a 
Ijrief review of those events and incidents on which the same was 
based. 

The period extending from tlie year 1776 to the year 1789 was 
marked in the colonial history of the United States by several crises, 
different in kind, but each so well defined in character as to be worthy 
of cominemoratiou by the people of another and distant age. These 
crises were : 

1. The Declaration of Independence. 

2. The Formation of the Constitution of the United States. 

3. The Adoption of the Constitution. 

-t. The Institution of the New Government. 

The dates of these successive events ai-e well known, the first oc- 
curring in midsummer of 1776 ; the second, in the summer of 1787 ; 
the third, in the years 1787 and 1788 ; and the fourth, in 1789. It is 
to the events of the last-named year that the attention of the reader 
will now be more particularly called. 

As we have said, each of these crises has a philosophical place and 
character in American liistory, and the reader may be interested to 
note the same as preliminary to an understanding of the Centennial 
exercises in New York city. 

First, the Declaration of Independence was a democratic and 
popular revolution. It was the act by which the allegiance of the 
old Thirteen Colonies to the mother country was broken. It was essen- 
tially destructive in its character. The first stages of all revolutions 
have this distinctive aspect. They destroy. It remains for a subse- 
quent movement to rebuild. The revolution, in the first place, abol- 
ishes and destroys an existing order. It implies that the people have 
borne as long as possible some system which presses upon them as if 
it were of chains and fetters. It is to break the chains, to throw off 
the fetters, that the revolution begins its career. Sometimes it is 
carried forward under a government which is able to survive the 
shock ; more frequently it attacks the government itself, and, if suc- 
cessful, overthrows it. Such was the case with the destructive Revo- 
lution of 1776. It was leveled against the existing order, and was 
most happily successful. 

Second, it was not long after the achievement of independence until 
the Revolutionary patriots, at least the more thoughtful and conserva- 



HAIililSON'S ADMINISriiATION. 6'.»9 

tive of them, came to see that mere independence was not enough; 
that mere destriiction of popuLar abuses could not suffice for the future 
of America. Acting from these sentiments the Fathers began to con- 
sult about re-building, or building anew, a structure in whicli civil 
liberty in America might find an abiding-place. These discussions 
began ahnost as soon as independence was clearly gained. Within a 
year after the treaty of peace Washington and his friends began to 
discuss the feasibility of a better system of government. Conferences 
were held first at Mount Vernon, then at Annapolis, and finally a 
great convention of delegates was assembled at Philadelphia. This 
occurred, as we have said, in the summer of 1787. The result of the 
labors of this convention is well known. Tiiat strange compromise 
called the Constitution of the United States was produced and signed 
by the delegates, with Washington as their president. This, then, was 
the epoch of the Formation of the Constitution. 

Third, immediately after this event a period of political agitation, 
the first real and general agitation known in the history of the United 
States, occurred. The new Constitution laid before the States was 
the bottom fact from which the stormy discussions of the next two 
years sprang. Should that Constitution l)e adopted I Or should it 
be rejected and the old confederative system of government be con- 
tinued ? On these questions there was a division of parties. The con- 
troversy waxed violent. All the old Tiiirteen States were shaken from 
center to boundary line. 

In a former part of the present work* the story of the Adoption 
of the Constitution by the several States has been narrated ; nor is it 
necessary here to repeat the well-known account of how State after 
State carried a majority of its delegates for the new system of gov- 
ernment. This epoch of agitation, of controversy, and the final adop- 
tion is the third of the three crises to which we have made reference 
as belonging to our Kevolutionary history. 

Fourth, and last of all, after the Constitution was adopted by nine 
or ten of the States, came the striking event of tlie Institution of the 
Xew Governtnent. The paper model of that Government existed in 
the Constitution itself. How Washington was unanimously chosen as 
first chief magistrate of the new republic is known to all the world. A 
Congress was constituted by the election of a House of Representa- 
tives and a Senate, in accordance with the provision of the new instru- 
ment. All things were made ready, as an architect might prepare the 
materials for a structure. Then came the actual building of the 

* See pp. 35(1-362. 



700 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

temple. The scene was in old New York ; the New York of one 
hundred years ago. 

It is worth while, before proceeding with the account of the 
Washingtonian inauguration, and of the commemorative e\'ents of 
1889, to notice briefly the manner and spirit in which the preceding 
centennials were observed by the people of the United States. We 
have already seen with what enthusiasm the Centennial Anniversary 
of the great democratic devolution of 1776 was marked by the masses. 
The people of the United States are warm in their affections toward 
the destructive revolution whicli was accomplished by the Declaration 
of Independence and the war which followed. There can be no 
doubt that, so far as the Tnasses are concerned, they have taken 
more interest, not only in our own independence and the means by 
which it was accomplished, bnt in the destructive aspect of all other 
revolutionary movements. With what zeal and success the Centen- 
nial Anniversary of Independence was observed in the city of Phila- 
delphia has already been narrated in a previous chapter of the present 
work.* The second Centennial — that is, the Centennial of the For- 
mation of the Constitution, did not awaken in the United States 
any considerable degree of enthusiasm. From this it is to be jjlainjy 
inferred that the people as a whole rejoice more in the fact of inde- 
pendence, in the destruction of old forms, and in the events by which 
independence was achieved, than they do in the structural part of the 
history of the country — that is, in the history of those new institutions 
which have been planted in place of the old. 

There was in the city of Philadelphia, where the Constitution was 
adopted, an effort in 1887 to commemorate the anniversary, and some 
local interest was excited in the event ; but there was no wide-spread 
zeal, no throbbing of tiie popular heart over the coming of the hun- 
dredth year of our national charter. The same may be said with 
respect to observing the intermediate period of the adoption of tlie 
Constitution. No celebrations of more than local importance were 
had in any of the States in commemoration of this important event. 
At the first it was even doubted whether the era of the institution of 
a government itself, dating from the 30th of April, 1789, could awaken 
sufficient public enthusiasm to warrant a national celebration. Events 
such as the formation of our Constitution, its adoption by the people 
of the States, and the institution of the new form instead of the old 
are not sufliciently spectacular and heroic to set the masses aglow, to 
j)i-oduee the requisite heat of a great national commemoration. Never- 

* See pp. 5t;3-628. 



ITABJIISOJV'S ADMINISTRATION. 701 

theless in the case of the institution of the Government it was believed 
by the people of New York city that the event conld not by any 
means be allowed to pass without an effort to impress upon the 
minds of tlie present generation the great events of a century 
gone by. 

Sufficiently striking in all respects was the contrast between the 
actual inauguration of AVashington and the ceremonies attendant upon 
the beginning of the Government of the United States in 1789, on the 
one hand, and the commemorative exercises after the lapse of a cent- 
ury. It may be appropriate in this connection to review briefly tlie 
circumstances of Washington's inauguration in order that the reader 
may have the contrast well in mind. 

According to the Constitution of the United States the new Gov- 
ernment which had been provided for was to have been instituted on 
the 4th of March — the day which has ever since been retained as the 
quadrennial beginning of the successive administrations. 

But the first setting up of the Government was attended with 
many difficulties. The seat of the new Republic, so far as its govern- 
mental machinery was concerned, was to be, at least for the time, in 
New York city. To reach that colonial metropolis, especially in the 
early spring, was a difficult and tedious process ; the members of Con- 
gress had to come from what were then distant regions to reach the 
place appointed. So the work lagged. On the 25th of March, 1789, a 
quorum had not yet appeared in either House of Congress. Nor should 
the reader forget that the old Congress of the Confederation had not 
yet expired. It met from day to day in the old Federal Hall in "Wall 
Street. The coming of a greater Congress was at hand. Near the 
close of the month Fisher Ames wrote to a friend in Boston, as 
follows : 

We have 26 representatives, and as 30 are necessary to make a quorum 
■we are still in a state of inaction. ... I am inclined to believe that the hinguor 
of the old Confederation is transfused into the members of the new Congress. 
This city has not caught the spirit, or rather the want of spirit, I am vexing my- 
self to e.xpress to you. Their ball will cost £20,000, York money. They are pre- 
paring fireworks and a splendid barge for the President, which last will cost £200 
to £300. We lose £1,000 a day revenue. We lose credit, spirit, every thing. The 
public will forget the Government before it is born. The resurrection of the 
infant will come before its birth. Happily the federal interest is strong in Con- 
gress. The old Congress still continues to meet, and it seems to be doubtful 
whether the old Government is dead or the new one alive. God deliver us speed- 
ily from this puzzling state, or prepare my will, if it subsists much longer, for I 
am in a fever to think of it." 



702 



niSTORT OF TUB UNITED STATES. 



On the 1st of April, however, the House of Eepresentatives had a 
quorum. Shortly afterwards the Senate also was sufficiently full to 
proceed to Ijusiness. On the 6th of April both Houses were organized 
in the same Hall where the old Confederative Congress of the C'olonies 
had been sitting. It will l)e remembered that this so-called Federal 




OLD FEPERAI. HALL, WALL STREET, AT THE HEAD OP BROAD, 1789. 



Hall was the old historic City Hall of New York, wliich had been 
used as the seat of legislative affairs since the close of the seventeenth 
century. 

The Constitution had devolved upon Congress the dutv of open- 
ing and counting the ballots for President of the United States. This 
was first of all attended to. It was found that George Washington, of 



HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 703 

Virginia, had a unanimous vote from all the States. Tlie next liighest <tn 
tlie list was John Adams, of Massachusetts, who, as the ('onstitution then 
stood, was to serve as Vice-President. But neither the President-elect 
nor the Vice-President-elect had as yet arrived in l^ew York. Events 
in those days went forward like a stately minuet. There was neitlier 
huri-ying nor excitement ; or if the latter existed it was supj)ressed 
under the formal regularities of tlie times. 

Charles Thompson was dispatched by Congress to Mount Verno7i to 
notify General Wasliington of liis election to the Presidency. The 
messenger rode on liorseback. For fifteen years he had been secretary 
of Congress. Nor is it uninteresting to notice that his wife, Ilamiah 
Harrison, was a sister of Benjamin Harrison, the signer of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, great-grandfather of him who was destined, in 
the course of events, to be tlie Centennial President of tlie United 
States. Washington was thus notified, and preparations were begun 
for his departure to the seat of government. 

Sylvanus Bourne was a like messenger to Vice-President Adams. 
Tlie latter left liome sooner tliaii did Washington, and presently, on tlie 
20th of April, arrived at New York. But tlie General's coming was 
delayed until late in April. Even tlien his progress was slow; the people 
retarded liis course. In the proper jdace we have already noticed the 
manner in wliich he was received en route — how, especially at Tren- 
ton, passing under trlum]i]ial arches, thirteen young girls strewed the 
way before him with fiowers. Washington's course from Trenton 
was across New Jersey by tlie old stage-route to Elizabethtown, 
where he was met l>y a deputation from Congress to escoi-t him to 
tlie city. 

The passage of the harbor was sufficiently beautified with civic 
ceremonies ; the boats were decorated with flags, and gay barges glided 
through the shining water. The President himself crossed over in a 
barge. It is said tliat every vessel in the great harbor was in full dress 
of streamers and flags, wliile at several points groups of singers saluted 
tlie President with music as he passed. Governor George Clinton, of 
New York, liad been commissioned to receive Washington at the ferry. 
The stairs were carpeted leading u]) from the water to the shore ; there 
Clinton received tlie Father of his Country. As soon as Washington's 
figure I'ose to view the assembled peo])le broke out in shouts long con- 
tinued and the excitement swirled tlirough tlie city when it was known 
that the new President liad really arrived. Tliis was on the 23d of 
April, 1789. 

New York at tlie time of which we speak was limited to the lower 



704 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

end of Manliattan Island. It was no more than a speck in comparison 
with tlie Centennial Metropolis of the nation. Its northern limits were 
marked by the building of the New York Times. Immediately north 
of this lay a lake, called the Collect Pond, about sixty feet in depth, 
covering that part of the city now occupied l)y the Tombs. It is 
said that tlie capitalists, even the adventurers, of that day, were 
without faith as to the futui-e extension of the city northward. 
The population was apjiroximiitely forty thousand. Water was dis- 
tributed to the citizens in hydi'ants and drawn from what was known 
as the Old Tea-Water Pump standing at the head of Pearl Street. 
No system of public sti-ect cleaning had been adopted. The streets 
were lighted with oil lamps. Much of tlie work was done by slaves, 
and slave auctions wei-e at that time still a common occurrence. 

General Washington ^\-as conducted to the residence which had 
been prepared for him in Franklin Square, and a programme was 
made out by Congress for the inauguration, which was set for the 
3()th of April. The stately and yet successful formalities of the oc- 
casion ai'e fully set forth in the following memorandum fi-om the 
first records of Congress: 

A])ril 2(lth, 1789. The committees of both houses of Congress, appointed 
to take order for conducting; tlie ceremonial of the formal reception, &c., of the 
President of the United States, on Thursday next, have agreed to the following 
order thereon, viz. : 

That General Webb, Colonel Smith, Lieutenant Colonel Fish, Lieutenant Col- 
onel Franks, Major L'Enfant, Major Bleecker, and Mr. John R. Livingston, be re- 
quested to serve as assistants on the occasion. 

■ That a chair be placed in the Senate Chamber for the President of the United 
States. That a chair be placed in the Senate Chamber for the Vice-President, to 
the right of the President's chair; and that the Senators take their seats on that 
side of the chamber on which the Vice-President's chair shall be placed. That a 
chair be ))laced in the Senate Chamber for the Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, to the left of the President's chair — and that the Representatives take 
their seats on that side of the chamber on which the Speaker's chair shall be placed. 

That seats be provided in the Senate Chamber sufficient to accommodate the 
late president of Congress, the governor of the Western teiTitory, the five persons 
being the heads of three great departments, theMinister Plenipotentiary of France, 
the Encargado de negocios of Spain, the chaplains of Congress, tlie persons in the 
suite of the President, and also to accommodate the following Public Officers of 
the State, viz.: The Governor, the Lieutenant-Governor, the Chancellor, tlie Chief 
Justice, and other judges of the Supreme Court, and the Mayor of the city. That 
one of the assistants wait on these gentlemen, and inform them that seats are pro- 
vided for their accommodation, and also to signify to them that no precedence of 
seats is intended, and that no salutation is expected from them on their entrance 
into, or their departure from, the Senate Chamber. 



MABRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 705 

That the members of both houses asserabU' in their respective Chambers pre- 
cisely at twelve o'clock, and that the representatives preceded by the Speaker, and 
attended by their clerk, and other officers, proceed to the Senate Chamber, there 
to be received by the Vice-President and the senators rising. 

That the Committees attend the President from his residence to the Senate 
Chamber, and that he be there received by the Vice-President, tlie senators and 
representatives rising, and be by the Vice-President conducted to his chair. 

That after the President shall be seated in his chair, and the Vice-President, 
senators and representatives sliall be again seated, the Vice-President shall an- 
nounce to the President, that the members of both houses will attend him to be 
present at his taking the Oath of Office required by the Constitution. To the end 
that the Oath of Office may be administered to the President in the most public 
manner, and that the greatest number of the people of the United States, anl 
without distinction, may be witnesses to the solemnity, that therefore the Oath be 
administered in the outer gallery adjoining to the Senate Chamber. 

That when the President shall proceed to the gallery to take the Oath, he be 
attended by the Vice-President, and be followed by the Chancellor of the State, 
and pass through the middle door; that the Senators pass through the door on 
the right; and the Representatives, preceded by the Speaker, pass through the 
door on the left; and such of the persons who shall have been admitted into the 
Senate Chamber, and may be desirous to go into the gallery, are then also to pass 
through the door on the right. When the President shall have taken the 
Oath, and returned into the Senate Chamber, attended by the Vice-President, 
and shall be seated in his chair, that the Senators and the Kepresentatives also 
return into the Senate Chamber, and that the Vice-President and they resume 
their respective seats. 

Both Houses having resolved to accompany the President, after he shall have 
taken the Oath, to St. Paul's Chapel, to hear divine service, to be performed by 
the chaplain of Congress, that the following order of procession be observed, viz.: 
The door-keeper and messenger of the House of Representatives. The clerk of 
the House. The Representatives. The Speaker. The President, with the Vice- 
President at his left hand. The Senators. The Secretary of the Senate. The 
door-keeper, and messenger of the Senate. 

That a pew be reserved for the President, Vice-President, Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, and the Committees ; and that pews be also reserved 
sufficient for the reception of the Senators and Representatives. 

That after divine service shall be performed, the President be received at the 
door of the Church, by the Committees, and by them attended in carriages to 
his residence. 

That it be intrusted to the assistants to take jjroper precautions for the keep- 
ing the avenues to the Hall open, and that for that purpose, they wait on his Ex- 
cellency, the Governor of this State, and in the name of the Committees request 
his aid, by an order of recommendation to the Civil Officers, or militia of the 
city, to attend and serve on the occasion, as he shall judge most proper. 

New York, as New York then was, had made great preparations 
to receive the Chief Magistrate. On the morning of the 30th, a 
national salnte was fired; tlie hells Imrst out merrily from all the 

45 



70tj HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

steeples of the city. The newspapers of tlie day desci-ihed the scene 
as especially impressive. Tlie people were called to attend church at nine 
o'clock in the morning. The beginning of the inangnral procession 
was set for noon-day ; and promptly at that hour the President's car- 
riage, followed by a train of attendants, proceeded from the house in 
Cherry Street, which had been appointed as his residence, tlirougli 
what was then Queen, Great Dock, and Broad Streets to the Old 
Federal Hall, where the ceremonies of the inauguration were to take 
place. The order of march is worthy of commemoration ; for this, as 
well as many other circumstances, tends to set in .strongest conti'ast tlie 
first inauguration with that of its Centemiial recun-ence. 

Col. Mi)R(;an Lewis, 
Attended t)y two officers. 

Capt. Stakes, 
With the Troop of Horse. 

Artillery. 
Maj. Van IIohne. 

Grenadiers, under Capt. Harsin. 

German Grenadiers, very gayly attired, under Capt. Scriba. 

Major Bicker. 

The Infantry of the Brigade. 
Major Chryslie. 

Sheriff. 

Committee of the Senate. 

. President-elect, 

Assistants. \ In a tharidt drawn liy four horses. )■ Assistants. 
•■5 I ' His Suite. 

G '. 

Committee of the Re])rcscntatives. 

Hon. Mr. -Jay, Secretary of Foreign AfTairs. 

Gen. Knox, Secretary of War. 

Chancellor Livingston. 

Several gentlemen of distinction. 

Arrangements had lieen made for the reception <if Washington in 
the Senate Hall. Thither he was conducted, and, when seated, was 
addressed by Vice-President Adams. After these preliminaries, the 



EE 



C 




CABL-N STELBtN 



.\>;TML B ST. 1 [ MK. -I 

CHANCELLOR EGBERT K. LIVINGSTON 



AMUSL A, OTIS, 

GEORGE WASHINGTON 



JOHN' ADAMS. 



WASHINGTON TAKING THE OATH AS PRESIDENT, 

APRIL 30, 1789, ON THE SITE OF THE PRESENT TREASURY BOILDING, WALL STREET, NEW YORK CITV. 



708 UlsrOltY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

President-elect, with the Chief Officers of the new Republic, the 
Senate and House of Representatives, repaired by the left and right to 
the balcony in front of the Hall, looking down in Wall Street, wliere 
the assembled throng awaited the administration of the oath of office. 
To this duty Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, Chief -justice of Kew 
York, had been appointed. Perhaps no scene of public induction into 
(.>ffice was ever more solenm or impressive. The chief figure was that 
of the Fatlier of his Country, conspicuous by his height, and still more 
conspicuous by the grandeur and impress! veness of his demeanor. 
Tlie oath of office was administered on tlie Biljle, opened before 
Washington, whereon he laid his hand, and to which he pressed his 
lips at the conclusion of the oath. This done. Chancellor Livingston 
raised his voice, and witli a gesture cried : '* Long live George Wash- 
ington, President of the United States." Immediately afterward the 
throng burst out in wild cheering ; shouts echoed through the city, and 
the bells rang out their peal of gladness at the auspicious event. Re- 
turning to the Senate Chamber Wasliington delivered an inaugural 
address, not elaborate and formal, as such papers have become in the 
course of our history, but brief, and affecting to those who heard it.* 

As soon as the exercises at the Federal Hall were over Washing- 
ton, attended by the chief officers of tlie government, and the Senate, 
repaired to the old St. Paul's Chapel, where divine services were held, 
and a sermon preached by Bishop Provost of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church. This concluded the formal exercises of the day. With 
the coming of night the city was brilliantly illuminated. The people 
poured into the streets ; shouts rang out on the evening air, and a uni- 
versal joy seemed to prevail, which was but the conspicuous example 
of the common rejoicing in all tlie States. 

It is fitting to note once more that Washington furnishes the 
only purely and altsolutely non-partisan figure in the history of the 
United States of America. Already in the Colonial times local 

*It is worthy of note that AVasliington, at the time of the inauguration, though 
only 51 years of age. was already an old man. He had gone into the Revohitiou a young 
man, but was now aged, gray, enfeebled by the strenuous services and great anxieties to 
which he had been subjected through a period of fourteen years. He was still erect, majestic, 
firm in his step, with a certain serene dignity of countenance which has hardly had a 
parallel among all the great men who have risen on this side of the sea. But it was 
noticed by those in the Senate Chamber, on the day of his inauguration, that his voice 
was not a little enfeebled. He spoke in a low tone, and could be heard only by those who 
were sitting near. Perhaps tlie premonitory shadows of the serious and long-continued 
illness, which fell upon him within two months after his inauguration, were already 
gathering on the day of his accession to the Presidency. 



HAHJilSON'ii ADMINISTRA TION. 



709 




Ul.ll fil'. PAILS CilUKCll, JiRdADWAV, NEW YOKK. 



divisions had given rise to local partisan controversy, and at the time of 
Washington's inanguration — even before that inauguration — a great dis- 
pnte, relative lirst of all to the Constitution itself, whether it should or 
should not be, and after that, relative to the construction of the great 
instrument, had broken out in all the States. Little jets of flame were 
already springing through the placid surface of public affairs, indica- 
tive of the great Federal and Democratic partisan disputes which have 
hardly yet ceased to agitate the American mind. But in this Wash- 
ington had no part or lot. He stood proudly above it. His theory 
was to introduce into his administration the diverse elements of polit- 
ical belief, and to harmoDize under his benign, fatherly influence the 



710 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

opposing forces wliicli tlireatened to distract, if not to destroy, tlie 
very system to wbich he liad now pledged his all. 

Tiii'iiiiig from the actual inaiiguratioii of the lirst President to the 
conimeiuoration of that event one hundred years afterward, we notice 
first of all the incipiency of the enterprise. As early as March of 
1SS3, a resolution was introduced into the Legislature of Tennessee re- 
questing Congress to make a suitable appro])riation for the observance of 
the Centenary of the Ameiican government. The measure is said to 
have originated with Colonel J. E. Peyton of New Jersey, who, thougli 
an Englishman by birth, had for a number of years l)een prominent as 
a mover and deviser of Centennial celebrations. It is perhaps true 
that to him the first movement in favor of the comniemoi-ative exer- 
cises of 1S89 must be attributed. 

Practically, however, the celebi-atiou originated with the New 
York Historical Society. In March of 1884 that body passed a resolu- 
tion to undertake the enterprise. The project was then espoused l)y 
the Chamber of Commerce ; and Congress and the State of New York 
were asked to indorse and support the measure. So far as the citizens 
of New York were concerned, their first public interest was excited l)y 
Colonel Peyton and Algernon S. Sullivan. A meeting was held at the 
Fifth Avenue Hotel, on tiie 1st of September, 188-t, and formal steps 
began to be taken for the celebration. It was not, however, until 1887, 
and near the close of that year, that a committee of forty -nine citizens, 
with Mayor Abram S. Hewitt as chairman, was appointed for genei-al 
supervision of the project. Many prominent citizens of New York, 
capitalists, military men, merchants, and othei-s esiJoused the cause, and 
by the beginning of 1888 the enterprise was well under way. 

At an early date it was determined that the commemorative cele- 
bration should conform as nearly as practicable to the actual inaugura- 
tion of Washington. To this end it was decided to invite the 
President of the United States, whoever he should be, to visit New 
York, going approximately by the same route which had carried 
Washington thither one hundred years ago, to be received in like maii- 
ner. conducted across the harbor in a similar vessel, and to be presented 
in Wall Street, on the very spot M-here Washington was inaugurated, 
and where a Centennial oration commemorative of the progress and 
glory of the Ameiican people was to l)e delivered. About this central 
idea all the other features of the celeln-ation were clustered. The 
event was totally different in character from the great expositions which 
had been connected with most Centennial celebrations. The Juliilees 
of France ; the great World's Fairs of England ; and our own Cen- 



HARBISON'S ADMINISTMATION. 711 

teimial Exposition at Philadelphia, in 1870, were of this kind. Eut in 
the case of the uoninienioration of the American government, now 
undertaken, the feature of exposition was wholly omitted. Every thing 
was made truly commemorative — designed to point backward to the 
events of a century ago, and to evoke, through the shadows of several 
generations, a vivid recollection of the condition of the American people 
and the American Republic, when the latter was instituted. 

During the whole of 1888, and the first months of 1889, the pre- 
liminaries were prosecuted with zeal by the C'itizens" Committee of 
New York. Meanwhile the presidential election had been held in 
which the temporary ascendency of the Democratic party was replaced 
by Republican success. Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, was chosen 
President. Ex-President Cleveland retired at the close of his adminis- 
tration to New York city, and became a resident of that metropolis. 
Happily enough, the incoming Chief Magistrate was intimately asso- 
ciated in his family relations with the great events of the Revolution. 
His great-grandfather, also named Benjamin Harrison, had presided in 
the Colonial Congress when the Declaration of Independence was adopt- 
ed, Mr. Hancock being absent from the chair on that ever memorable 
day. The son of that distinguished statesman liad become ninth Pres- 
ident of the United States, and now the great-grandson was chosen by 
the election of the American people to the same high office and dignity. 

It was foreseen that the celebration would Ijring to New York 
city a vast concourse of people, and the event justified the expectations. 
It had been decided by the conmiittee to devote two days to the com- 
memorative exercises, namely, the 30th of April, and the 1st of May. 
For perhaps two weeks before these days the great trains on the many 
railways centering in the metropolis began to pour out an unusual 
cargo of Inmian life. They grew longer, and darker with their burden, 
until, by the 2!»th of April, the city of New York was a mass of living 
beings gathered from all parts of the Republic, but principally froiri 
the old thirteen States. Next after these, the five great States com- 
posing what was a hundred years ago the territory north-west of the 
river Ohio were best represented. It is probable that at the time of 
the celel)ration New York proper held for her own population about 
1,750,000 inhabitants, and a fair estimate would perhaps place the 
strangers then in the city at fully a half million. 

For three days before the formal opening of the celebration, the 
Atlantic coast in the region of New York was visited with a great 
rain storm, which threatened to mar all that had been attempted, but 
on the 29th of the month the skies cleared, the air became fresh, and 



712 BISTORT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the sunshine bright. Tlie morning of the Centennial day was nsliered 
in as auspiciously as could be desired, and the metropolis was early 
astir for the great event. 

Meanwhile arrangements lunl been made for President Harrison, 
Vice-Pi-esident Morton, the meml)ers of the Cabinet, and other promi- 
nent men connected with the government, to go to tlie city from 
Washington. To this end a magnificent train was prepared by the 
managers of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and a little after micjnight on 
the morning of the 29th the President and his companions left Wash- 
ington. They were received at several points eti route with nnicli 
enthusiasm, and as the train drew near New York the stations and towns 
were crowded with people. At Elizabethtown the i"eal imitation of 
of the Washington inaugural began. Here a committee sent out from 
New York met the President and prepared to conduct him across the 
bay. A steamer called the Despatch had been prepared for this es- 
pecial purpose. She was gaily decked with flags and streamers. The 
upper harljor of New York had been given up to the shipping, which 
was placed under the command of Admiral Porter. The scene pre- 
sented from the observatory of the Field Building, erected on the site 
of Washington's old head-quarters at the lower end of the island, was 
one of the finest ever witnessed. The broad harbor w^as covered with 
vessels, and gaily decorated ships of foreign nations \ied ^vith the 
American craft in flinging their streamers to the breeze. 

We may here speak of tlie general appearance of the city. Every 
pains had been taken to put the meti'opolis into gala dress and to 
present to tlie eye the most inspiring spectacle. Never was a city 
more completely clad in gay apparel. Every street on both sides as 
fiir as the eye could reach was ornamented with flags and streamers, 
mottoes, and emblems of jubilee. In this respect Broadway and Fifth 
Avenue were the most elaborately and beautifully adorned. It is 
doubtful whetlier in the history of mankind a finer display has been 
made in the streets of any city. The decorations extended to every 
variety of public and private edifices. Scarcely a house on Manhattan 
Island but had its share in the display. Indeed, if one had been lifted 
in a balloon above old Castle Garden, sweeping northward with his 
glass he would have seen flags on flags from the Battery to Spuyten 
Duyvil. Along both sides of the North River and East River and in 
the islands of the bay the universal emblems were flung to the breeze. 
And the purest of sunshine glorified the scene with a blaze of morning 
light. The convoy of the Despatch., under command of Captain Am- 
brose Snow, of the New York Marine Society, was rowed by twelve 



EARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 713 

venerable retired sea captains. The scene was sufficiently picturesque 
as they brought the President safely to land in the barge called tiie 
Queen Kap'wlani. 

The landing was effected a little after noon-day. The President was 
received by Mayor Grant, Governor Hill, and Stnyvesant Fish. The 
procession had been arranged from the foot of Wall Street to the great 
building of the Equitable Assurance Company in Broadway, where, 
under the auspices of the Lawyers' Club of New York, the first formal 
reception of the President occurred. As soon as General Harrison 
had taken his carriage the procession moved to the Equitable Building, 
where, on a raised platform, the President, the Vice-President, and Gov- 
ernor Hill were introduced to the invited guests, most of whom had 
taken part in the procession. In the next place the President lunched 
in an adjoining private room, the ornamentation of which, for this oc- 
casion, is said to have cost nearly $5,000. At this time the narrow 
streets in the lower part of tlie metropolis were packed with eager 
people. It was with difficulty that the troops, drawn up in a hollow 
square in front of the Equitable building, were able to keep back the 
crowds. Meanwhile many bands, especially those of Gilmore and Cappa, 
discoursed national airs, while in distant parts of the city the hum and 
roar of the rising excitement could be distinctly heard. 

It must be borne in mind that the part assigned to President Har- 
rison in these commemorative exercises was the part of Washington. 
He was to impersonate the Father of his Country. Tiie next movement 
of the concourse was from the Equitable Building to the City Hall, 
where another reception was given. A splendid platform, covered 
with plush materials, railed in with brass, was erected on the spot 
where the bodies of Abraham Lincoln and General Grant had lain in 
state in death, and where the Marquis of Lafayette had stood on his 
visit to New York in 1824. About 5,000 persons at this place were 
received by the President. After the close of the exercises at City 
Hall the President was taken to the residence of Vice-President Mor- 
ton on Fifth Avenue, whither his wife had already preceded him. In 
the evening he dined with Mr. Stuyvesant Fish in Gramercy Park, 
and at a later hour attended the great ball in the Metropolitan Opera 
House, which had been prepared in imitation and commemoration of 
the Washingtonian ball given on the occasion of the first inauguration, 
at which the Father of his Country led the first cotillon. Thus closed 
the ceremonies of the 29th of April, the day preceding the comtnemo- 
rative exercises proper. 

On the followincr morning the inhabitants of New York, and hun- 



'-' - r ,e¥mm«'' 




sun- IKEASTRY, WALL AS'D NASSAU STRKKTS. NF.W YORK. 



HARRrSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 715 

dreds of tliousands of strangers, poured into the streets to witness tiie 
great military parade which was to be the feature of the day. Mean- 
while in the lower part of the city the exercises which had been 
planned in imitation and eommenioratiou of Washington's accession to 
the presidency were under way. Wall Street and Broad Street were 
packed with people. A great platform had been erected in front of 
the Treasury building, now occupying the site of old Federal liall, and 
marked by the presence of Ward's colossal statue of Washington. It 
was here that the oratorical and literary exercises were to take place. 
These were to consist of a Centennial oration by Hon. Chauncey M. 
Depew, also of an address by President Harrison, of a poem by John 
Greenleaf Whittier, and of such religious services as were appropriate 
to the occasion. Several of the leading clergymen of the metropolis 
were present on the stand. Archbishop Corrigan, Dr. Richard S. 
Storrs, and Dr. Henry C. Potter, bishop of New York, were the most 
distinguished of the group. 

The exercises were opened by Mr. Elbridge T. Gerry, who in a few 
explanatory words introduced Dr. Storrs, who pronounced the invoca- 
tion. The accessories were all in keeping with the occasion. President 
Harrison sat in a chair which had been much used by Washington. 
The table also was Washington's, and the Bible which was laid thereon 
was that on which the Father of his Countr}- had taken the solemn oath 
to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The 
Whittier poem was then read by Mr. C. W. Bowen, secretary of the 
Citizens' Committee, as follows : 



THE VOW OF WASHINGTON. 

BY JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. 

The sword was sheathed; in April's sun 
Lay green the fields by freedom won ; 
And severed sections, weary of debates, 
Joined hands at last, and were United States. 

O, city sitting by the sea! 
How proud the day that dawned on thee; 
When the New Era, long desired, began. 
And in its need the hour had found the Man! 

One thought the cannon's salvos spoke; 

The resonant bell-tower's vibrant stroke; 

The voiceful streets, the plaudit-echoing halls. 

And prayer and hymn borne heavenward from St. Paul's. 



716 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 

How felt the land iu every part 

The strong throb of a nation's heart 

As its great leader gave, -with reverent awe, 

His pledge to Union, Liberty, and Law. 

That pledge the heavens above him heard ; 
That vow the sleep of centuries stirred ; 
In world-wide wonder listening peoples bent 
Their gaze on freedom's great experiment. 

Could it succeed? Of honor sold 

And hopes deceived all history told ; 

Above the wrecks that strewed the mournful jiast 

Was the long dream of ages true at last ? 

Thank God! The people's choice was just; 
The one man equal to his trust ; 
Wise beyond lore and without weakness good, 
Calm in the strength of flawless rectitude. 

His rule of justice, order, peace, 

Made possible the world's release ; 

Taught prince and serf that power is but a trust, 

And rule alone which serves the ruled is just. 

That freedom generous is, but strong 
In hate of fraud and selfish wrong — 
Pretense that turns her holy truths to lies, 
And lawless license masking in her guise. 

Land of his love! with one glad voice 

Let thy great sisterhood rejoice ; 

A century's suns o'er thee have risen and set 

And, God be praised ! we are One Nation yet. 

And still we trust the years to be 
Shall prove his hope was destiny; 
Leaving our flag with all its added stars 
Unrent by faction and unstained by wars. 

Lo! where with patient toil he nursed 
And trained the new set plant at first, 
The widening branches of a stately tree 
Stretch from the sunrise to the sunset sea. 

And in its broad and sheltering shade, 

Sifting with none to make afraid, 

Were we now silent through each mighty limb 

The winds of heaven would sing the praise of him. 

Our first and best ! his ashes lie 

Beneath his own Virginian sky. 

Forgive, forget, O true and just and brave, 

The storm that swept above thy sacred grave. 



HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 717 

Forever in the awful strife 

Aud dark Iiours of the nation's life, 

TliroLigli the fierce tumult pierced his warning word; 

Their father's voice his erring children heard. 

The change for which he prayed and sought 

In that sharp agony was wrought; 

No partial interest draws its alien line 

'Twixt North and South, the cypress and the pine. 

One people now, all doubt beyond. 

His name shall be our union bond; 

We lift our hands to heaven, and here and now 

Take on our lips the old Centennial vow. 

For rule and trust must need be ours; 
Chooser aud chosen both are jjowers; 
Equal in service as in rights, the claim 
Of duty rests on each and all the same. 

Then let the sovereign millions where 
Our banner floats in sun and air. 
From the warm palm-lands to Alaska's cold, 
Repeat with us The Pledge a century old! 

The oration of Mr. Depew was of a high order, eulogistic of tlie 
present — the voice of a patriot who believes in the past and trusts the 
future. The address by the President was also able and patriotic. 
The exercises were closed with a benediction by Archbishop Corrigan, 
of the archdiocese of New York. 

In the nieantitne the great military pai-ade — the greatest of all such 
displays in the United States, with the single exception of the review of 
the soldiers at Washington at the close of the war — was in preparation 
for the march. The principal streets in the lower part of the city had 
been assigned for the formation of the various divisions of the parade. 
At last the procession was ready to move. A number of magniticent 
carriages bearing the President, theVice- President, the members of the 
Cabinet, and other distinguished representatives of the government, 
swept up to the head of the column and led the way to the great re- 
viewing stand which had been prepared on the west side of Madison 
Square, looking down into Fifth Avenue. Here the President and his 
companions took their places to review the column as it passed, and 
for six hours the chief magistrate stood up to recognize, in his official 
capacity, the passing squadrons of the greatest parade ever known 
in a time of peace west of the Atlantic. 

It were difficult to describe the great procession. It was admirably 



(IS 



HIsTonT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



inimaged — wliolly military. Tlie ditfei-ent divisicms were arranged in 
files from eighteen to twenty-two men abreast. In many places the 
inarching was in close rank, so that the knees of those in the rear rank 
fitted almost geometrically into those of the men in front. Tlie pas- 
sage was at the rate (jf more than 9,(in() per hour. The best estimates 
place the number in line at over .')2,0()U. Major General John M. Scho- 
field was commander-in-chief. The course of march was from Wall 
Street into Broadway ; up Broadway to Waverly Place ; through Wav- 
erly Place into Fifth Avenue ; along that magnificent tlioroughfare to 
Fourteenth {Street ; thence around Union Square, through to Fifth 
Avenue and thence northward to Central Park. 

Through all this distance and on both sides of the street was a 
solid wall of human beings, rising to the rear by every kind of con- 
trivance which human ingenuity 
could invent, so as to gain a view 
of the procession. The mass on tlie 
sidewalks was from twenty to fifty 
jiersons deep. In every advanta- 
geous position scafl^olding with as- 
cending seats had been erected for 
the accommodation of the multi- 
tudes, and not a seat was left un- 
occupied. At the street crossings 
every variety of vehicle had l)een 
drawn up, and the privilege of stand- 
ing on boxes or sitting in carts, 
wagons, or hacks was sold at hitrh 
figures to the eager ])eople wiio 
pressed into the crowd. Windows 
and every other available point of view, liou.setops, balconies, stoop.s, 
verandas, were crowded to their utmost capacity. In favorite local- 
ities fabulous prices were charged for the privilege of looking from 
a windo\v upon the jiassing cavalcade. The latter was, as we have 
said, preceded by the Pi-esidential company. General Schofield, senior 
Major-General of the American Army, as chief marshal, rode at 
the liead of the column. After liim, and leading the van of the j)i'o- 
cession proper, M-ere over 2,0(.»0 regulars, infantry and cavalry, drawn 
from the Army ; then came the cadets from West Point, whose march- 
ing and uniform and liearing were of such excellence as to excite a 
chorus of cheers from end to end of the long march. Next followed 
the artillery and batteries of the regular army. Many of the guns and 




JOHM M. SCHOFIELD. 



720 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

niucli of tlie armor was resplendent for its brilliancy. After these came 
the marines and naval cadets, a vast column of apprentices, whose 
march, by its peculiar rolling movement, denoted that the coluum had 
been recently gathered from the decks of ships. 

Thus closed the first division of the procession — that is, those who 
were taken from the Army and Navy of the United States. Then 
followed the militiamen — the National Guard of the different States. 
At the head was a column of 370 men from Delaware ; for Delaware 
had been lirst of the old thirteen States to adopt the Constitution, and 
was thus given a place of honor on the centennial anniversary. The 
Governor of each State represented in the parade rode at tlie head of 
the division from his own Commonwealth. Most of the governors were 
in civil attire. General Beaver, of Pennsylvania, General Fitzhugh 
Lee, of Virginia, and General John B. Gordon, of Georgia, were con- 
spicuous at the head of their divisions. It was noticed that those wlio 
were present from the Southern States were received with unstinted 
ajiplause. Governor Beaver rode at the head of the Pennsylvania 
troops, numbering fully 8,000 men. Then came Governor Green, with 
the soldiers of New Jersey 3.700 strong ; then Georgia, with General 
Gordon and his staff. The Foot Guards from Connecticut, preceded 
by the Governor, numbered 600. Governor Ames, of Massachusetts, 
headed the column of 1,500 from the old Bay State — a noble division, 
containins the Ancient and Honoral)le Artiilerv of Boston, all uni- 
formed after the most antique pattern. The men of Maryland were 
500 strong. Then came New Hampshire; then Vermont, with a di- 
vision of 700. Governor Eichardson, of North Carolina, followed with 
a l)ody of 500 men. This division was fortunate in bearing an old Hag 
belonging to North Cai-olina in the pre-Re^olutionary epoch. After 
this came the great division of New York. Twelve thousand men, 
arranged in four brigades of eighteen regiments, one battalion, and five 
liatteries, were the contribution of the Empire State to the great display. 
At the head of the line rode Governor David B. Hill. 

In this column the Seventh Eegiment, made up of prominent men 
of New York city, and numbering over 1,000, was, perhaps, the most 
conspicuous single body in the whole procession. The Twenty -second 
Eegiment vied with its rival ; and it might l)e difficult to decide whether 
the palm for marching and other evidences of elegant training should te 
awarded to the West Point Cadets, the Seventh Regiment of New 
York, the Twenty-second Eegiment of the same State, the squadron 
from the Michigan Military Academy, av the Twenty -third Eegiment, 
of Brooklyn. 



HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. Y21 

Behind this magniticent display of the mihtary came the veterans 
of the Civil War, the men of the Grand Army of the Repnblic, headed 
by their conimander-in-chief, Genei-al William Warner. These were 
arranged column after column to an aggregate of 12,000, according to 
the locality from which they were gathered, the rear being closed with 
a magniticent body of old soldiers, numbering nearly 4,000, from 
Brooklyn and Kings County. It was already nightfall wlien this ex- 
treme left of the column passed the reviewing stand, and the parade 
for the day was at an end. 

The evening of the yOth was occupied with one of the most elabo- 
rate and sumptuous banquets ever spread in the United States. For 
this purpose the Metropolitan Opera House, in Broadway, had been pro- 
cured and decorated. It was claimed by those experienced in such 
matters that the floral ornamentation of the hall was far superior in 
costliness and beauty to any thing of like kind ever before displayed in 
the country. The boxes of the theater were adorned with the national 
colors, with the shields and coats-of-arms of the various States of the 
Union. Over the proscenium arch was a portrait of Washington, ar- 
ranged in a cluster of evergreens and flowers. The auditorium was brill- 
iantly illuminated, and the scene of splendor on every hand might well 
dazzle the eye and surprise the imagination of the beholder. The ban- 
queters, embracing many of the chief men of the nation, were seated 
at a series of tables, the first and principal one being occupied by the 
President of the United States, the Governor of New York, the Vice- 
President, the Lieutenant-Governor, Chief-Justice Fuller, Judge An- 
drews, General Schofield, Admiral Porter, Senator Evarts, Senator 
Hiseock, Ex-President Hayes, Ex-President Cleveland, Bishop Potter, 
Speaker Cole, of the New York Assembly, Secretar}- Proctor, Hon. S. 
S. Cox, General William T. Sherman, Clarence W. Bowen, and El- 
bridge T. Gerry, the last two representing the Citizens' Committee. 
At this table Mayor Grant presided, and read the toasts of the evening. 

The feast began at 9 o'clock in the evening. At the close a series 
of brief addresses were delivered by the Governor of New York, Ex- 
President Cleveland, E.x-President Hayes, General Sherman, Senator 
Evarts, President Eliot, of Harvard ; James Eussell Lowell, Senator 
Daniel, and others. The closing address was by the President of the 
United States. Nearly all the speeches were faultless in their subject- 
matter, eloquent in ilelivery, and worthy to he regarded as classics of 
the occasion. 

The programme prepared by the Citizens' Committee embraced a 
general holiday of three days' duration, during which business was sus- 
46 



722 niSTORT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

peiided tlirongliout tlie city. On the 29th and 30tli of April and oti 
the 1st day ot' May tlie restriction was faithfully regarded. One might 
traverse Broadway and lind hut few business establishments open to 
the public. This was true ]iarticularly of the two principal days ol 
tlie festival. 

It now remains to notice the great civic parade of the 1st of May, 
with which the commemorative e.xercises were concluded. The desigTi 
was that this should represent the industries, the progress, and in gen- 
eral the civic life of the Metropolis of the Nation and of the country 
at large, as distinguished from the military display of the preceding day. 
It was found from the experience of the .'idth that the line of march 
was too lengthy, and the second day's course was made somewhat shorter. 
It is not intended in this connection to enter into any elaborate account 
of the civic procession of tlie third day. It was second only in impor- 
tance to the great military parade which liad preceded it. The proces- 
sion was composed, in large part, of tliose various civic orders and broth- 
erhoods with which modern society so much al)Ounds. In these the foreign 
nationalities which liave ol)tained so large a footing in New York city 
were largely prevalent. The German societies wei-e out in fnll force. 
Companies representing almost every nation of the Old World were in 
the line, carrying gay banners, keeping step to the music of magnificent 
bands, and proudly lifting their mottoes and emblems in the May-day 
morning. 

The second general feature of this procession was the historical 
jiart. The primitive life of Manhattan Island, the adventures of the 
earlv explorers and discoverers along the American coast, the striking 
incidents in the early annals of the old Thirteen States, were allegorized 
and mounted in visible form on chariots and drawn through the streets. 
All the old heroes of American History, from Cohnnlius t(.> Peter Stuy- 
vesant, were seen again in iiKirtal foiMu, received obeisance, and heard 
the shouts of the multitudes. From ten o'clock in the foivnoon till 
half-past three in the afternoon the procession was under way, the 
principal line of march being down Fifth Avenue and through the 
principal squares of the city. With the coming of evening the pyro- 
technic display of the preceding night was renewed in many parts of 
the metropolis, though it could hardly be said that the fireworks were 
ecpial in brilliancy, beauty, and impressiveness to the magnificent day 
pageants of the streets. 

One of the striking features of the celebration was the ease and 
rapidity with which the vast multitudes were breathed into and breathed 
out of the city. In the principal hotels fully 15( »,<•(»() .strangers were 



HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 723 

registered as quests. More than twice this miinber were distributed in 
the smaller lodging-houses and private dwellings of New York and 
Brooklyn. Yet the careful observer abroad in the streets saw neither 
the coming nor the going. With the appearance of the days of the 
celebration the throngs were present ; on the following days they were 
gone. The great railways centering in the metropolis had done their 
work noiselessly, speedily, effectively. It may well be recorded as one 
of the marvels of modern times that only two persons are said to have 
lost their lives in this tremendous assemblage, extending through sev- 
eral days, and that at least one of these died suddenly from heart dis- 
ease, while the manner of the death of tlie other was unknown. Such 
is the triumph which tiie mastery of the human mind over tlie forces 
of the material world has easily achieved in our age, under the guidance 
of that beneticent science by which the world is at once enlightened 
and protected from danger. 

The close of the year 1888 and the beginning of 1889 were marked 
by a peculiar episode in the history of the country. An unexpected 
and even dangerous complication arose between the United States and 
Germany relative to the Samoan Islands. This comparatively unim- 
portant group of the Soutli Pacific lies in a south-westerly direction, 
at a distance of about five thousand miles from San Francisco and nearly 
two thousand miles eastward from Australia. The long-standing pol- 
icy of the government, established under the administration of Wash- 
ington and ever since maintained, to have no entanglements with foreign 
nations, seemed in this instance to be strangely at variance with the 
facts. 

During 1888 the civil affairs of the Samoan Islands were thrown 
into extreme confusion by what was really the progressive disposition 
of the people, but what appeared in the garb of an insurrection against 
the established authorities. The government of the islands is a mon- 
archy. The country is ruled by native princes, and is independent of 
foreign powers. The capital, Apia, lies on a bay of the same name on 
the northern coast of the princii^al island. It was here that the insur- 
rection gained greatest headwa}'. 

The revolutionary movement was headed by an audacious chief- 
tain called Tamasese. The king of the island was Malietoa, and his 
chief supporter, Mataafa. At the time the German Empire was rep- 
resented in Samoa by its Consnl-General, Herr Knappe ; and the United 
States was represented by Hon. Harold M. Sewall. A German armed 
force virtually deposed Malietoa and set up Tamasese on the throne. 
On the other hand, the representative of the United States, following 



724 ni.sTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the pulicy of his government, stood by the established authority, sup- 
porting tlie native sovereign and Mataafa. The American and German 
authorities in the island were thus brought into conflict, and serious 
difficulties occurred between the ships of the two nations in the harbor. 

AVhen the news of this state of affairs reached Germany, in April, 
1889, several additional men-of-war were sent out to the island to up- 
hold the German cause. Mataafa and the Germans were thus brought 
to war. Meanwhile the American government took up the cause of 
its consul and of King Malietua as against the insurrection. A section 
of the American navy was dispatched to the distant island, and the ships 
of war of two of the greatest nations of Christendom were thus set 
face to face in a harbor of the South Pacific Ocean. 

In this condition of affairs, on the 22d of March, 1889, one of the 
most violent hurricanes ever known in the islands blew up from the 
north, and the American and German war-vessels were driven upon 
the great reef which constitutes the only break-water outside of the 
harbor of Apia. Here they were wrecked. The American war-ships 
Nipsic, Trenton, and Vandalia were dashed into ruins. The German 
vessels Adler, Olga, and Eher were also lost. The English vessel 
Calliope, which was caught in the storm, was the only war-ship which 
escaped by steaming out to sea. Sei'ious loss of life accompanied the 
disaster : 4 American officers and 46 men, 9 German officers and 87 
men sank to rise no more. 

Meanwhile England had become interested in the dispute, and had 
taken a stand with the United States as against the decision of Germany. 
The matter became of so great importance that President Harrison, 
who had in the meantime acceded to office as chief magistrate, ap- 
pointed, with the advice of the Senate, an Embassy Extraordinary, 
to go to Berlin and meet Prince Bismarck in a conference with a view 
to a peaceful solution of the difficulty. Tlie embassadors appointed 
for tliis purpose were J. A. Kasson, of Iowa ; William W. Phelps, of 
New Jersey ; and G. H. Bates, of Delaware. The commissioners set 
out on the 13th of April, and on their arrival at the capital of the 
German Empire opened negotiations with the Chancellor Bismarck and 
liis son. The attitude and demand of the American government was 
that the independence of Samoa, under its native sovereign, should be 
acknowledged and guaranteed by the great nations concerned in tlie 
controversy. The conference closed in May, 1889, with the restoration 
of King Malietoa and the recognition of his sovereignty over the island. 

The closing week of May, 1889, was made forever memorable in 
the history of the United States by the destruction of Johnstown, 



HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 725 

Pennsylvania. The calamity was caused by the bursting of a reser- 
voir and the pouring out of the deluge in the valley below. A large 
artificial lake had been constructed in the ravine of the South Fork 
River, a tributary of the Conemaugh. It was a fishing lake, the prop- 
erty of a company of wealthy sportsmen, and was about five miles in 
length, varying in depth from fifty to one hundred feet. An immense 
volume of water was thus accumulated in a gorge at the foot of the 
mountains, and was, as it were, suspended over the valley of Cone- 
maugh. The country below the lake was thickly peopled. The city of 
Johnstown, with a population of more than ten thousatid, lay at the 
junction of the South Fork with tlic Conemaugh. In tlie last days of 
May unusually heavy rains fell in all that region, swelling every stream 
to a torrent. The South Fork Lake became full to overflowing. 
The dam had been imperfectly ciuistructed. On the afternoon of 
May 31 the dam of the reservoir burst wide open in the center and a 
solid wall of water from twenty to fifty feet in height rushed down 
tlie valley with terrific violence. The countiy was already inundated, 
and on toji of the swollen streams was poured a veritable flood. 

The destruction wliich ensued was among the greatest which the 
modern world has witnessed. In the path of the deluge every thing 
was swept away. The manufacturing city of Johnstown was totally 
wrecked, and was thrown in an indescribable heap of liorror against 
the aqueduct of tlic Pennsylvania railway, which spanned the river 
below the town. Here the ruins caught fire, and the wild shrieks of 
hundreds of miserable victims were drowned in the holocaust. Ac- 
cording to the best estimates more than 5,000 people perished in the 
flood or were burned to death in the ruins. The heart of the nation 
responded quickly to tlie sufferings of the survivors, and millions of 
dollars in money and supplies were poured out to relieve the despair 
of those who survived the calamity. 

Thus has the Ilistor}' of the United States been traced from the 
beginning of our national career to the dawn of yesterday. The 
Republic has passed through stoi'my times, l)ut has at last entered her 
second century in safety and peace. The clouds that were recently so 
black above her have sunk behind the hoi-izon. Tiie equality of all 
men before the law has been written with the iron pen of war in the 
Constitution of the Xation. The union of the States has been conse- 
crated anew by the blood of patriots and the tears of the lowly. The 
temple of freedom, reared by the fathers, still stands in undiminished 
glory. TuE Past has taught rrs Lesson, the Present has its 
Duty, and the Future its Hope. 



726 CONCLUSION. 



CHAPTEK LXXIII. 
CONCL USION. 

117IIAT, then, of the outlook for tlie American Republic? What 
' ' shall another century bring forth ? What is to be the destiny 
of this' vio'orous, atrffressive, self-sovernina: A na:lo- American race? 
How will the picture, so well begun, be completed l>y the annalists 
of posterity? Is it the sad fate of humanity, after all its struggles, 
toils, and sighing, to turn forever round and round in the same 
beaten circle, climbing the long ascent from the degradation of sav- 
age life to the heights of national renown only to descend again 
into the fenlands of despair? Is Lord Byron's gloomy picture of 
the rise and fall of nations indeed a true portrayal of the order of the 
world ?— 

Here is tlie moral of all huriian tales, — 

'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past. 

First freedom and then glory — when that fails, 

Wealth, vice, eorniption, barbarism at last; 

And History with all her volumes vast 

Hath but une page ! 

Or has the human race, breaUing the bonds of its servitude and es- 
caping at last from its long imprisonment, struck out across the fields 
of sublime possibility the jtromised pathway leading to the final tri- 
umjjh? There are still doubts and feare — perplexities, anxieties, and 
sometimes anguish — arising in tne soul of the philanthropist as he 
turns his gaze to the fubure. But there are hopes also, grounds of 
confidence, ai spicious omens, tokens of the substantial victory of truth, 
inspirations of faith welling up in the heart of the watcher as he scans 
the dappled horizon of the coming day. 

As to present achievement the American peo])le have far sur- 
passed the expectations of the fathers. The visions and dreams of the 
Revolutionary patriots have been eclipsed by the luster of actual ac- 
complishment. The territorial domains of the Republic enclose the 
grandest belt of forest, valley, and plain that the world has in it. 
Since the lieginning of time no other people have possessed such a 
territ<ny — so rich in resources, so varied in products, so magnificent 
in physical aspect. Soil and climate, the distribution of woods and 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 727 

lakes and rivers, the interposition of mountain ranges, and the fertil- 
ity of valley and prairie, here contribute to give to man a many-sideil 
and powerful development. Here he finds bays for his shipping, 
rivers for his steamers, fields for his plow, iron for his forge, gold for 
his cupidity, landscapes for his pencil, sunshine enough for song, and 
snow enough for courage. Nor has the Anglo-American failed to profit 
liy the advantages of his surroundings. He has planted a free gov- 
ernment on the largest and most liberal scale known in history. He 
has espoused the cause of liberty and right. He has fought like a 
hero for the freedom and equality of all men. He has projected a 
civilization which, though as yet but dimly traced in outline, is the 
vastest and grandest in the world. Better than all, he believes in the 
times to come. So long as man is anxious about the future the fu- 
ture is secure. Only when he falls into apathy, sleeps at his post, and 
cares no longer for the morrow, is the world iu danger of relapse and 
barbarism. 

To the thoughtful student of history several things seem neces- 
saiy to the perpetuity and complete success of American institutions. 
The first of these is the prevalence of the Idea of National Unity. 
Of this spake Washington in his Farewell Address, warning his coun- 
rymen in solemn words to preserve and defend that government which 
constituted them one j>eoplc. Of this wrote Hamilton and Adams. 
For this pleaded Webster in his great orations. Upon this the far- 
seeing statesmen of the present day, rising above the strifes of party 
and the turmoils of war, plant themselves as the one thing vital in 
American politics. The idea that the United States are one Nation, 
and not thirty -eight nations, is the grand cardinal doctrine of a sound 
political faith. State pride and sectional attachment are natural pas- 
sions in the human breast, and are so near akin to patriotism as to be 
distinguished from it only in the court of a higher reason. But there 
is a nobler love of country — a patriotism that rises above all placea 
and sections, that knows no County, no State, no North, no South, but 
only native land; that claims no mountain slope; that clings to no 
river bank; that worships no range of hills; but lifts the aspiring eye 
to a continent redeemed from barbarism by common sacrifices and 
made sacred by the shedding of kindred blood. Such ». patriotism is 
the cable and sheet-anchor of our hope. 

A second requisite for the preservation of American institutions 
is THE Universal Secular Education of the People. Monarchies 
govern their subjects by authority and precedent; republics by right 
reason and free will. Whether one method or the other will be better, 



728 CONCL VSION. 

turns wholly upon the intelligence of the governed. If the subject 
have not the knowledge and discipline necessary to govern himself, it 
is better that a king, in whom some skill in the science of government 
is presupposed, should rule him. As between two stupendous evils, 
the rational tyranny of the intelligent few is preferable to the furious 
and irrational tyranny of the ignorant many. No force which has 
moved among men, impelling to bad action, inspiring to crime, over- 
turning order, tearing away the bulwarks of liberty and right, and 
converting civilization into a waste, has been so full of evil and so 
powerful to destroy as a blind, ignorant, and factious democracy. A 
republic witliout intelligence — even a high degree of intelligence — is 
a paradox and an impossibility. What means that principle of the 
Declaration of Independence which declares the consent of the gov- 
erned to be the true foundation of all just authority? What kind of 
"consent" is referred to? Manifestly not the passive and unresisting 
acquiescence of the mind which, like the potter's clay, receives what- 
ever is impressed ujion it ; but that active, thinking, resolute, conscious, 
personal consent which distinguishes the true freeman from the puppet. 
When the j)euj)le of the United States rise to the heights of this noble 
and intelligent self-assertion, the occupation of the party leader — most 
despicable of all the tyrants — will be gone forever; and in order that 
the people may ascend to that high plane, the means by which intel- 
ligence is fostered, right reason exalted, and a calm and rational pub- 
lic opinion produced, must be universally secured. The public Free 
School is the fountain whose streams shall make glad all the lands 
of liberty. We must educate or perish. 

A third thing necessary to the perpetuity of American liberties 
is Toleration — toleration in the broadest and most glorious sense. 
In the colonial times intolerance embittered the lives of our fathers. 
Until the present day the baleful shadow has been n]wn the land. 
The proscriptive vices of the Middle Age have flowed down witli the 
blood of the race and tainted the life that now is, with a suspici(m and 
distrust of freedom. Liberty in the minds of men has meant the privi- 
lege of agreeing with the majority. Men have desired free thought, 
but fear has stood at the door. It remains for the United States to 
build a highway, broad and free, into every field of liberal inquiry, 
and to make the poorest of men who walks therein, more secure in life 
and reputation than the soldier who sleeps behind the rampart. Pro- 
scription has no part nor lot in the American system. The stake, the 
gibbet, and the rack, thumb-screws, sword, and pillory, have no place 
on this side of the sea. Nature is diversified ; so are human faculties. 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 729 

beliefs, and practices. Essential freedom is the right to differ; and 
that right must be sacredly respected. Nor must the privilege of dis- 
sent be conceded with coldness and disdain, but openly, cordially, and 
with good will. Xo loss of rank, abatement of character, or ostracism 
from society must darken the pathway of the humblest of the seekers 
after truth. The right of free thought, free inquiry, and free speech, 
is as clear as the noonday and bounteous as the air and ocean. With- 
out a full and cheerful recognition of this right, America is only a 
name, her glory a dream, her institutions a mockery. 

The fourth idea, essential to the welfare and stability of the Re- 
public, is THE Nobility of Labor. It is the mission of the United 
States to ennoble toil and honor the toiler. In other lands to labor 
has been considered the lot of serfs and peasants; to gather the fruits 
and consume them in luxury and war, the business of the great. 
Since the medieval times European society has been organized on the 
basis of a nobUity and a people. To be a nobleman was to be distin- 
guished from the people; to be one of the jieople was to be forever 
debarred from nobility. Thus has been set on human industry the 
stigma of perpetual disgrace. Something of tliis has lieen transmitted 
to the new civilization in the West — a certain disposition to renew 
the old order of lord and laborer. Let the odious distinction perish : 
the true lord is the laborer and the true laborer the lord. It is the 
genius of American institutions, in the fullness of time, to wipe the 
last opprobrious stain from the brow of toil and to crown the toiler 
with the dignity, luster, and honor of a full and perfect manhood. 

The scroll of the century is rolled together. The work is done. 
Peace to the memory of the fathers! Green be the graves where 
sleep the warriors, patriots, and sages! Calm be the resting-place of 
all the brave and true ! Gentle be the summer rains on famous fields 
where armies met in battle! Forgotten be the animosities and heart- 
burnings of the strife ! Sacred be tiie trusts committed to our care, 
and bright the visions of the coming ages! 



APPENDIX A. 



SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE'S ARGUMENT ON THE FIGURE 
OF THE EARTH. 

[Since the jiaragrapli in the text lias hccn (lie suhject of some ilouhts niid criticism, 
the original of Sir John Mandeville's argument is lieie appended. The ortliograpliy 
and pliraseology are not more quaint tlian tlie higio i-^ invMicible. In order that the ar- 
gument may he more easily folloued and clearly underslood, a translation or paraphrase, 
is added. It must not be forgotten that the date of Sir John's book is loot! — a hundred 
and thirty-six years before the discovery of .\merica by Columbus. — The Author.] 

In that Lond, ne in many othere bezonde that, no man may see the Sterre trans- 
montane, that is clept the Sterre of the See, that is unmevable, and that is toward the 
Nortlie, that we clepen the Lode Sterre. But men seen another Sterre, the contrarie to 
him, that is toward the Southe, that is clept Antartyk. And right as the Schip men 
taken here Avys here, and governe hem be the Lode Sterre, right .so don Schip men 
bezonde the parties, be the Sterre of the Southe, the whiche Sterre apperethe not to us. 
And this Sterre, that is towanl the Northe, that wee clepen the Lode Sterre, ne apperethe 
not to hem. For whiche cause, men may wel perceyve, that the Lond and the See ben 
of rownde schapp and forme. For the partie of the Firmament schewethe in o Contree, 
that schewethe not in another Contree. And men may well preven be experience and 
sotyle compassement of Wytt, that zif a man fond passages be Schippes, that wolde go 
to serchen the World, men myghte go be Schippe alle alioute the World, and aboven 
and benethen. The whiche thing I prove thus, aftre that I have .seyn. For I have 
ben toward the parties of Braban, and beholden the Astrolabre,' that the Sterre that is 
clept the Transmontayne, is 53 Degrees liiglie. And more forthere in Almayne and 
Bewme, it bathe 58 Degrees. And more fortlie toward the parties septeratrioneles, it is 
62 Degrees of heghte, and certeyn Mynntes. For I my self liave niesured it by the 
Astrolabre. Now schulle ze knowe, that azen the Transmontayne, is the tother Sterre, 
that is clept Antartyke; as I have seyd before. And tho 2 vSterres ne meeven nevere. 
And be hem turnethe alle the Firmament, righte as dothe a Wheel, that turnethe be 
his .\xille Tree: so that tho Sterres beren the Firmament in 2 egalle parties; so that 
It bathe als niochel aboven, as it liathe benethen. Aftre this, I have gon toward the 
parties meridionales, that is toward the Southe: and I have founden, that in Lybye, 
men seen tirst the Sterre Antartyk. And so fer I have gon more forthe in tho Contrees, 
that I have founde that Sterre mf)re highe ; so that towanl the highe Lybye, it is 18 
Degrees of heghte, and certeyn Minutes (of the whiche, 60 Minutes maken a Degree). 
Aftre goynge be See and be Londe, toward this Contree, of that I have spoke, and to 
other Yles and Londes bezonde that Contree, I have founden the Sterre Antartyk of 33 
Degrees of heghte, and mo mynutes. .\nd zif I hadde bad Companye and Schippynge, 
for to go more bezonde, I trowe wel in certeyn, that wee scholde have seen alle the 

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APPENDIX A. 731 

rouniinesse of the Firmament alle aboute. * * '' * * * Be tlie whiche I seye 
zoii certeynly, that men may envirowne alle the Erthe of alle the World, as wel undre 
as aboven, and turnen azen to his Contree, that hadde Companye and Schippynge and 
Conduyt; and alle weyes.he scholde fynde Men, Londes, and Yles, als wel as in this 
Contree. For zee wyten welle, that thei that ben toward the Antartyk, thei ben 
streghte, feet azen feet of hem, that dwellen undre transmontane; als wel as wee and 
thei that dwellyn under us, ben feet azenst feet. For alle the parties of See and of 
Lond han here appositees, habitables or trepas-sables, and thei of this half and bezond 
half. * * * * '•■' '■' And whan men gon bezonde tho iourneyes, toward Ynde and 
to the foreyn Yles, alle is envyronynge the roundnesse of the Erthe and of the See, 
undre oure Contrees on this half. And therfore hathe it befallen many tymes of o 
thing, that I have herd cownted, whan I was zong; how a worthi man departed sora- 
tyme from oure Contrees, for to go serche the World. And so he passed Ynde, and the 
Yles bezonde Y'nde, where ben mo than 5000 Yles: and so longe he wente be See and 
Lond, and so enviround the World be many seysons, that he fond an Y'le, where he 
herde speke his owne Langage, callynge on 0.\en in the Plowghe, suche Wordes as men 
speken to Bestes in his owne Contree: whereof he hadde gret Mervayle : for he knewe 
not how it myghte be. But I seye, that he had gon so longe, be Londe and be See, that 
he had envyround nlle the erthe, that he was comen azen envirounynge, that is to seye, 
goynge aboute, unto his owne Marches, zif he wolde have passed forthe, til he had 
founden his Contree and his owne knouleche. But he turned azen from thens, from 
whens he was come fro; and so he loste moche peynefulle labour, as him self seyde, a 
gret while aftre, that he was comen hom. For it befelle aftre, that he wente in to Nor- 
weye; and there Tempest of tlje See toke him ; and he arryved in an Y'le ; and whan 
he was in that Y'le, he knew wel, that it was the Y'le, where he had herd speke his owne 
Langage before, and the oallynge of the O.xen at the Plowghe : and that was possible 
thinge. But how it semethe to symple men unlerned, that men ne mowe not go undre 
the Erthe, and also that men scholde falle toward tlie Hevene, from undre! But that 
may not be, upon lesse, than wee mowe falle toward Hevene, fro the Erthe, where wee 
ben. For fro what partie of the Erthe, that men duelle, outher aboven or benethen, it 
semethe alweys to hem that duellen, that thei gon more righte than ony other folk. 
And righte as it semethe to us, that thei ben undre us, righte so it semethe hem, that 
wee ben undre hem. For zif a man myghte falle fro the Erthe unto the Firmament; 
be grettere resoun, the Erthe and the See, that ben so grete and so bevy, scholde fallen 
to the Firmament: but that may not be. * * * And alle be it that it he possible 
thing, that men may so envyronne alle the World, natheles of a 1000 persones, on ne 
myghte not happen to returnen in to his Contree. For, for the gretnesse of the Erthe 
and of the See, men may go be a 1000 and a 1000 other weyes, that no man cowde redye 
him perfitely toward the parties that he cam fro, but zif it were be aventure and happ, or 
be the grace of God. For the Erthe is fiille large and fulle gret, and holt in roundnesse 
and aboute envyroun, be aboven and be benethen 20425 Myles, aftre the opynyoun of 
tlie olde wise Astronomeres. And here Seyenges I repreve noughte. But aftre my lytylle 
wytt, it semethe me, savynge here reverence, that it is more. And for to have bettere 
understondynge, I seye thus. Be ther ymagyned a Figure that hathe a gret Compas; 
and aboute the poynt of the gret Compas, that is clept the Centre, be made another 
litille Compas: than aftre, be the gret Compas devised be Lines in raanye parties; and 
that alle the Lynes meeten at the Centre ; so that in as many parties, as the grete 
Compas schal be departed, in als manye schalle be departed the litille, that is aboute 
the Centre, alle be it that the spaces ben lesse. Now thanne, be the gret compas 
represented for the firmament, and the litille compas represented for the Erthe. Now 
thanne the Firmament is devysed, be Astronomeres, in 12 Signes ; and every Signe is 



732 MANDEVILLE'S ARGUMENT. 

devysed in 30 Degrees, that is 3G0 Degrees, tliat the Firmament liathe aboven. Also, 
be the Krtlie devysed in als many parties, as the Firmament; and lat every partye an- 
Bwere to a Degree of the Firmament: and wytetlie it wel, that aftre the Auctoures of 
Astronomye, 700 Furlonges of Erthe answeren to a Degree of tlie Firmament; and tho 
ben 87 Miles and 4 Furlonges. Now be that here multiplyed by 360 sithes; and than 
tliei ben ol500 Myles, every of 8 Furlonges, aftre Myles of oure Contree. So moclie 
hathe tlie Ertlie in roundncsse, and of lieghte enviroun, aftre uiyn opynyoun and myp 
andirstondynge. 



[paraphrase.] 

In that land and in others beyond no man may see the hxed star of the North which 
we call the Lode Star. But there men see another star called the Antarctic, opposite to the 
star of the North. And just as mariners in this hemisphere take their reckoning and 
govern their course by the North Star, so do the mariners of tlie South by the Antarctic. 
But the star of the North appears not to the people of tlie South. Wherefore men may 
easily perceive that Ihe land and the sea are rf round sltape and figure. For that part of the 
firmament which is seen in one country is not seen in another. And men nmy prove 
both by experience and sound reasoning that if a man, having passage liy sliiii, should 
go to searcli the world, he miyht with his veg.-iel .sttiY aromul Ihe uvrld, both above and under it. 
This proposition I prove as follows : I have myself in Prussia seen the North Star oy 
the astrolabe fifty-three degrees above the horizon. Furtlier on in Bohemia it rises to 
the height of fifty-eight degrees. And still farther northward it is sixty-two degrees 
and some minutes high. I myself have so measured it. Now the South Pole Star is, 
as I have said, opposite the North Pole Star. And about these poles the whole celestial 
sphere revolves like a wheel about the axle; and the firmament is thus divided into 
two equal parts. From the North I have turned southward, passed the equator, and 
found that in Lybia the Antarctic Star first appears above the horizon. Farther on in 
those lands that star rises liigher, until in southern Lybia it readies the height of 
eighteen degrees and certain minutes, sixty minutes making a degree. After going 
by .sea and by land towards that country [.\ustralia perhaps] of which I have spoken, 
I have found tlie Antarctic Star more than thirty-three degrees above the horizon. 
And if I had had company and shipping to go still farther, 1 knmc of a certainty that I should 
have seen the whole circumference of the heavens. '•' * ••' * ■'' * A nd I repeat that inen 
may environ the whole world, as well under as above, and return to their oun C(mntry, if they had 
cOiiijxiny, and ships, ajid conduct. And always, as well as in their own land shall (hey find 
inhabited continents and islands. For know you well that they who dwell in the 
southern hemisphere are feet against feet of them who dwell in the northern hemi- 
sphere, j«,'<< as we and they thai dwell under ws are feet to feet. For every part of the sea and 
the land hath its antipode. * * * * * Moreover when men go on a journey toward 
India and the foreign islands, they do, on the whole route, circle the circumference of 
the earth, even to those countries which are under ns. And therefore hath that same 
thing, which I heard recited when I was young, happened manv times. Howbeit, upon 
a time, a worthy man departed from oiir country to explore the world. And so he 
passed India and the islands beyond India — more than five thou.sand in number — and 
so long he went hy sea and land, environing Ihe world for many .seasons, that he found 
an island where be beard them speaking his own language, hallooing at the oxen in 
the plow with the identical words spoken to beasts in his own country. Forsooth, he 
was astonished; for he knew not how the thing might happen. But I assure you that 



APPENDIX A. TA-i 

he Iiad gone so far by land and sea that he had actually gone around the world and 
was come again through the long circuit to his own district. It only remained for liiiii 
to go forth and find his particular neighborhood. Unfortunately he turned from the 
coast which lie had reached, and thereby lost all his painful labor, as he himself after- 
wards acknowledged when he returned home. For it happened by and by that he 
went into Norway, being driven thither by a storm ; and there he recognized an island 
as being the same in which he had heard men calling the oxen in his own tongue ■ 
3nd that was a possible thing. And yet it seemeth to simple unlearned rustics that 
men may not go around the world, and if they did they would fall off! But that absurd 
thing never could happen unless we ourselves from where we are should fall toward 
heaven 1 For upon what part soever of the earth men dwell, whether above or under, 
it always seemeth to them that they walk more perpendicularly than other folks I And 
just as it seemeth to us that our antipodes are under us head downwards, just so it 
seemeth to them that we are under them head downwards. If a man might fall from 
the earth towards heaven, by much more reason the earth itself, being so heavy, should 
fall to heaven — an impossible thing. ***** Perhaps of a thousand men who 
should go around the world, not one niiglit succeed in returning to his own particular 
neighborhood. For the earth is indeed a body of great size, its circumference being — 
according to the old wise astronomers — twenty thousand four hundred and twenty-five 
miles. And I do not reject their estimates: but according to ray judgment, saving their 
reverence, the circumference of the earth u somewhal, more than that. And in order to have 
a clearer understanding of the matter, I use the following demonstration: Let there he 
imagined a great sphere, and about the point called the center another smaller sphere. 
Then from different parts of the great sphere let lines be drawn meeting at the center. 
It is clear that by this means the two spheres will be divided into an equal number o; 
parts having the same relation to each other; but between the divisions on the smaller 
sphere the absolute space will be less. Now the great sphere represents the heavens 
and the smaller sphere the earth. But the firmament is divided by astronomers into 
twelve Signs, and each Sign into thirty degrees, making three hundred and sixty de- 
grees in all. On the surface of the earth there will be, of course, divisions exactly cor- 
responding to those of the celestial sphere, every line, degree and zone of the latter 
answering to a line, degree or zone of the former. And now know well that according 
to the authors of astronomy* seven hundred furlongs, or eighty-seven miles and four fur- 
longs, answer to a degree of the firmament. Multiplying eighty-seven and a half miles 
by three hundred and sixty — the number of degrees in the firmament — we have thirty- 
one thousand five hundred English miles. And this according to my belief and dem- 
onstration is the true measurement of the circumference of the earth. 

* An everlasting shame be to the " olde wise .\stronon1ere9"! If they had given Sir Jolin the cor- 
rect measurement of a de^ee of latitinle, he would not have missed the circumference of the worid 
hi^ at much as ten miles t Hia argument is absolut^^ly correct. This, too, in A. D. 1351>. 



APPENDIX B. 



A PLAN OF PERPETUAL UNION, 

FOB 

HIS majesty's colonies in north AMERICA: 
PROPOSED BY BENJ. FRANKLIN, 

AND 

Adopted by the Colonial Convention at Albany, July 10th, 1754. 

[This document will be found of special interest as containing the germ of tlie 
Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States. It should be 
remembered that (his "Plan of Union," though adopted by the Congress at Albany- 
only the delegates from Connecticut dissenting — was rejected both by the colonial 
assemblies and the British Board of Trade, — by the former as being too despotic a 
constitution and by the latter as a piece of high-handed presumption. — The Author.] 

That the general government of His Majesty's Colonies in Nortli America be 
administered by a President-General, to be appointed and supported by the crown ; and 
a Grand Council, to be chosen by the representatives of the people of tlie several colonies 
met in their respective Aasemblies ; 

Who shall meet for the first time at the city of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, being 
called by the President-General as soon as conveniently may be after his apixiintment; 

That there shall be a new election of the members of tiie Grand Council every three 
years; and on the death or resignation of any member, his place should be supplied by a 
new choice at the next sitting of the Assembly of the colony he represented ; 

That after the first three years, when the proportion of money arising out of each 
colony to the general treasury can be known, the number of members to be chosen for 
each colony shall frfiui time to time, in all ensuing elections, be regulated by that propor- 
tion, yet so as that the number to be chosen by any one province be not more than seven, 
nor less than two ; 

That the Grand Council shall meet once in every year, and oftener if occasion require, 
at such time and place as they shall adjourn to at tlie last preceding meeting, or as they 
shall be called to meet at by the President-General on any emergency ; he having first 
jbtained in writing the consent of seven of the members to such call, and sent due and 
timely notice to the whole; 

That the Grand Council have power to choose tlieir speaker; and shall neither be 
dissolved, prorogued, nor continued sitting longer than six weeks at one time, witliout 
their own consent or the special command of the crown ; 

That the members of the Grand Council shall be allowed for their service ten shil- 
lings per diem, during their session and journey to and from the place of meeting; twenty 
miles to be reckoned a day's journey ; 

That the assent of the President-General be requisite to all acts of the Grand 
Council, and that it be liis office and duty to cause them to be carried into execution : 

That the Presi(lent-(ieiieral, with tlie advice of the (irand Coumsil, liold or direct all 

T:;4 



FRAXA'LIN.'i CONSTITUTION. 735 

Induin treaties, in wliich the general interest of the colonies may be concerned; ami 
uiuke peace or declare war with Indian nations; 

Tliat they in:ike Buch laws as they judge necessary for regulating all Indian trade; 

That tiiey make all purchases, from Indians for tlie crown, of lands not now within 
the bounds of particular colonies, or tliat shall not be within their bounds, when some of 
them are reduced to more convenient dimensions; 

That they make new settlements on such purchases, by granting lands in the kingV 
:iame, reserving a quit-rent to the crown for the use of the general treasury ; 

That they make laws for regulating and governing sucli new settlements, till the 
CTOwn shall think fit to form them into particular governments; 

Tliat they raise and pay soldiers and build forts for the defence of any of the colo- 
nies, and equip vessels of force to guard the coasts and protect the trade on the ocian, 
lakes, or great rivers; hut they shall not impress men in any colony, without the consent 
of the legislature ; 

That for these purposes they have power to make laws, and lay and levy such 
general duties, imposts, or taxes, as to them shall appear most equal and just (considering 
the ability and other circumstances of the inhabitants in the several colonies,) and such 
as maybe collected with the least inconvenience to the people; rather discouraging luxury, 
than loading industry with unnecessary burthens; 

That they may appoint a (ieneral Treasurer and Particular Treasurer in each gov- 
ernment, when necessary ; and from time to time may order the sums in the treasuries oi 
each government into tlie general treasury, or draw on them for special payments, as they 
find most convenient ; 

Yet no money to issue but by joint orders of the President-General and Grand 
Council ; except where suras have been appropriated to particular purposes, and 
the President-General is previously empowered by an act to draw such sums; 

That the general accounts shall he yearly settled and reported to the severa! 
Assemblies; 

That a quorum of the Grand Council, em|)owered to act witli the President-Geiwral, 
do consist of twenty-five members; among whom there shall be one or more from a ma- 
jority of the colonies; 

That the laws made by them for the purposes aforesaid shall not be repugnant, but 
as near as may be, agreeable to the laws of England, and shall be transmitted to the 
King in Council for approbation, as soon as may be after their passing ; and if not disap- 
proved within three years after presentation, to remain in force; 

That, in case of the death of the President-General, the Speaker of the Grand Council 
for the time being shall succeed, and be vested with the same powers and authorities to 
continue till the King's i)Ieasure be know; 

That all military commission oflicers, whether for land or sea service, to act under 
this general constitution, shall be nominated by the President-General; but the appro- 
bation of the Grand Council is to be obtained, before they receive their commissions; and 
all civil officers are to be nominated by the Grand Council, and to receive the President- 
General's approbation before they officiate ; 

But, in case of vacancy by death or remioval of any officer civil or military under 
this constitution, the Governor of the province in which such vacancy happens, may 
appoint, till the pleasure of the President-General and Grand Council can be known; 

That the particular military as well as civil establishments in each colony remain 
in their present state, the general constitution notwithstanding; and that on sudden 
emergencies any colony may defend itself; and lay the accounts of expense thenc« 
arising before the President-General and General Council, who may allow and order 
payment of the same, as far as they judge such accounts just and reasonable. 



APPENDIX C. 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 

Adopted by Congress, July 4, 1776. 



A. DECLARATION BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ITNITED STATES OF 
AMERICA, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED. 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one peo])Ie to dissolvs 
l»ie political bands which have connected tliem with another, and to assume among the 
j-uwera of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and oi 
nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they 
s'nould declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ; tliat they 
arfl endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, 
liliertv, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these riglits, governments are insti- 
tuted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, 
whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the 
people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on 
such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most 
likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that govern- 
ments long establislied should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accord- 
ingly, all experience hath sliown that mankind are more disposed to suflTer, while evila 
are sufTerable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to whicli they are accus- 
tomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same 
object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is 
their duty, to throw ofT such a government, and to provide new guards for their future 
security. Such has been the patient suflerance of these Colonies; and such is now the 
necessity which constrains them to alter their former .systems of government. The history 
of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all 
having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To 
prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world : — 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public 

go d. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, 
unless suspended in their operations, till his assent should be obtained; and, when so 
suspended, he has utterly neglected to atteml to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, 
Hnless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a 
right ines''riiable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 

He ha^ cal'ud together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and di.s. 
tant from the repo-sitory of their public record.s, for the sole purpose of fatiguing thenj 
into compliance witli his measures. 

736 



DECLARATIOX OF INDEPENDENCE. "iST 

He lias dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing, with manly firmness^ 
hi'^ invasions on the riglits of the people. 

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; 
whereliy the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, liave returned to the people at 
large, for their exercise ; tlie .State remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dan- 
gers of invasions from without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent tlie population of these States; for that purpose, 
obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners ; refusing to pass others to 
e.icourage their migration hither, and raising tlie conditions of new appropriations 
of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his as.sent to laws for 
establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges depemltnt on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and 
the amount and payment of their .salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers, to harass 
our people, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of 
our legislatures. 

He has afl'ected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. 

He har combined with others to subject us to 'a jurisdiction foreign to our consti- 
tution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended 
legislation : — • 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; 

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which thej 
fihould commit on the inhabitants of these States; 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world ; 

For imjxising taxes on us without our consent ; 

For depriving us, in many ca.ses, of the benefits of trial by jury; 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences; 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establish- 
ing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at 
once an example and tit instrument for introducing the .same absolute rule into these 
Colonies; 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, funda- 
mentally, the powers of our governments; 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power 
to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He ha.s abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging 
war against us. 

He ha-s plundered our se:is, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed 
the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the 
works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and 
perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of 
a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms 
against their country, to Ijeconie the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall 
themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections among.st us, and has endeavored to bring on 
the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of w.■l^ 
fare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. 

i7 



738 APPENDIX a 

In every stage of these <)|i|iressions, we liave petitioned for redress in llie most luim- 
ble terms; our repeated petitions liave been answered by repeated injury. A prince 
whose character is tlius niarlied by every act wliich luay define a tynint, is unfit to be 
tlie ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our Ijritisli brethren. We have warned 
them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to e-xtend an unwarrantable 
jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and 
settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we 
liave conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, 
which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have 
been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in 
the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of 
mankind, enemies in war; in peace, friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general 
congress as.sembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of 
our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these Colo- 
nies, solenmly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to 
be. Free and Independent Slates ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British 
crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, 
and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as Free and Independent Stalex, they have 
full power to levy war, conclude pe;ice, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do 
all other acts and things which Independent Slates may of right do. And for the support 
of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we 
mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 

John Hancock. 

New H.\mpshire. — Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton. 

Masschusetts Bay. — Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge 
Gerry. 

I Rhode Island, etc. — Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery. 
'•' Connecticut. — Roger Sherman, Saniuil nuntington, William Williams, Oliver 
Wolcott. 

Nfw York. — William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris. 
^' New Jersey. — Kichard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John 
Hart, Abraham Clark. 

Pennsylvania. — Rotert Jlorris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, 
George Clymer, James Smith, Geoige Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross. 

Delaware. — Ca\sar Rodney, George Read, Thomas I\['Kean. 

Maryland. — Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of 
Carrollton. 

J ViRfilNlA. — George Wythe, Richard Henry Ix'e, Thomas .Jeflerson, Benjamin Har- 
rison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Bra.xton. 

North Carolina. — William Hooper, Jo.seph Hewes, .John Penn. 

South Carolina. — Edward Rutledge, Thomas Hayward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., 
Arthur Middleton. 
/ Georoia. — Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton. 



APPENDIX D. 



ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 

[The Articles of Confederation were drawn up by a committee of gentlemen, who 
were appointed by Congress for this purpose, June 12, 1770, and finally adopted, No- 
vember 15, 1777. The committee were Messrs. Bartlett, Samuel Adams, Hcjpkins, Sher- 
man, R. R. Livingston, Dickinson, M'Kean, Stone, Nelson, Howes, E. Rutledge, and 
Gwinnet.] 

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND PERPETUAL UNION. 

Between the Stales of JVft« Hampshire, MassachuseMs Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plan- 
tatiom, Connecticut, Kew York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Cirolina, and Gem-gia, 

ARTICLE I. 

The style of this confederacy shall be, " The United States of America." 

ARTICLE II. 

Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, 
jurisdiction, and right, wliich is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United 
States in Congress assembled. 

ARTICLE III. 

Tlie said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each 
other, for their common defence, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and 
general welfare, binding themselve.s to assist each other against all force offered to, or 
attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or 
any other pretence whatever. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section 1. — The better to secure and jierpetuate mutual friendsliip and intercourse 
among the people of the different States in this union, the free inliabitants of eacli of 
tlie.He States — paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted — shall be entitled 
to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of 
each State shall have free ingress and egress to and from any other State, and shall 
enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the .«ame duties, 
impositions, and restrictions, as the inhabitants thereof respectively; provided, that 
such restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported 
into any State, to any other State, of which the owner is an inhabitant; provided also, 
that no imposition, duties, or restriction, shall be laid by any State on the property of 
the United States, or either of them. 

Sec. 2. — If any person, guilty of, or charged with treason, felony, or other high 
misdemeanor, in any State, shall flee fiom justice, and be found in any of the United 
States, he shall, upon the demand of the Governor or executive power of the Stale 
from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the State having jurisdiction of his 
ofTence. 

ray 



740 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 

Sec. 3. Full faith and credit sliall be given, in eacli of these States, to tlie records, 
acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other State. 

AKTVCLt V. 

Section 1. — For the more convenient management of the general interests of the 
United States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislature 
fif each State shall direct, to meet in Congres,s on the first Monday in November in every 
year, with a power reserved to each State to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any 
ihne within the year, and to send others in their stead, for the remainder of the 3'ear. 

Sec. 2. — No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor more than 
seven members ; and no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three 
years, in any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of 
holding any office under the United Slates, for which he, or any other for his benefit, 
receives any salary, fees, or emolument, of any kind. 

vSec. 3. — Each State shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the States, and 
while they act as members of the committee of these States. 

Sec. 4. — In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, each 
State shall have one vote. 

Sec. 5. — Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impe.iched or 

questioned in any court or place out of Congress, and the members of Congress shall be 

protected in their persons from arrests and imprisonments during the time of their 

going to and from, and attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of 

the peace. 

ARTICLE VI. 

Section 1. — No State, without the consent of the United States in Congress assem- 
bled, shall send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any confer- 
ence, agreement, alliance, or treaty with any king, prince, or State, nor shall any j)erson 
holding any office of profit or trust under the United States, or any of them, accept oi 
any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or 
foreign state; nor shall tlie United States in Congre.ss as.sembled, or any of them, grant 
any title of nobility. 

Sec. 2. — No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or alli- 
ance whatever, between them, without the consent of the United States in Congress 
assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for which the same is to be entered into, 
and how long it shall continue. 

Sec. 3. — No Slate shall lay any imposts or duties which may interfere with any 
stipulations in treaties entered into by the United States in Congress assembled, with any 
king, prince, or State, in pursuance of any treaties already proposed by Congress to the 
courts of France and Spain. 

Sec. 4. — No vessels of war shall be kept u|> in time of peace by any State, except 
such number onlv as shall be deemed necessary by the United States in Congress assem- 
bled, for the defence of such State, or its trade; nor shall any body of forces be kept up 
by any State, in time of peace, except such number only as, in the judgment of the United 
States in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts neces.sary for 
tlie defence of such State; but every State .shall always keep up a well-regulated and 
disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred, and shall provide and constantly 
have readv for use, in public stores, a due number of field-pieces and tents, and a proper 
quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp e(iuipase. 

Sec. b. — No Stale shall engage in any war witboul the consent of the United States 
in Congress assembled, unless such State be actually invaded by enemies, or shall have 
received certain advice of a resolution being formed by some nation of Indians to invade 



APPENDIX n. 741 

fluch State, aiul tlie danger is so imminent as not to admit of delay till the United States 
in Congress assembled can be consulted ; nor shall any State grant commissions to any 
ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration 
of war by the United States in Congress assembled, and then only against the icingdom 
or State, and the subjects thereof, against which war has been so declared, and under such 
regulations as shall be established by the United States in Congress assembled, unless 
such State be infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted out for that 
occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, or until the United States in 
Congress assembled shall determine otherwise. 

ARTICLE VII. 

When land forces are raised by any State for the common defence, all officers of oi 
under the rank of colonel, shall be appointed by the legislature of each State respect- 
ively by whom such forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such State shall direct, 
and all vacancies shall be filled up by the State which first made the appointment. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common 
defence or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, 
shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several 
States, in proportion to the value of all land within each State, granted to or surveyed 
for any person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be esti- 
mated, according to such mode as the United States in Congress assembled .shall, from 
time to time, direct and appoint. The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid 
and levied by the authority and direction of the legisl.atures of the several States within 
the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. 

ARTICLE IX. 

Section 1. — The United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and 
exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, except in the cases men- 
tioned in the sixth ariicle, of sending and receiving ambassadors; entering into treaties 
and alliances, provided that no treaty of commerce shall be made, whereby the legisla- 
tive power of the respective States shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and 
duties on foreigners, as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the 
exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever; ol 
establishing rules fur deciding in all cases what captures on land or water shall be legal, 
and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the United 
States shall be divided or appropriated; of granting letters of marqi.e and reprisal in 
times of peace; appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies committed on 
liie high seas; and establishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in 
all cases of capture; provided that no member of Congress shall be appointed a judge 
of any of the said courts. 

Sec. 2. — The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort oc 
appeal in all disputes and diflferences now subsisting, or that hereafter may arise between 
two or. more States concerning boundary, jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever; 
which authority shall always be exercised in the manner following: Whenever the 
legislative or executive authority or lawful agent of any State in controversy with 
another, shall present a petition to Congress, stating the matter in question, and pray- 
ing for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given by order of Congress to tlie legislative 
or executive authority of the other State in controversy, and a day assigned for the 
appearance of tin- parties by tlieir lawful agents, who shall then be directed to appoint. 



742 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 

by joint consent, comiuissiiiners or jiulges to constitute a court for liearing and deter- 
mining tlie matter in question ; but it' tliey can not agree, Congress shall name three 
persons out of each of the United States, and from the list of such persons each party 
shall alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, until the number shall be 
reduced to thirteen; and from that numlier not less than seven, nor more than nine 
names, as Congress shall direct, shall, in the presence of Congress, be drawn out by lot; 
and the persons whose names shall be so drawn, or any five of them, shall be comuiis- 
sioners or judges to hear and finally determine tlie controversy, so always as a major 
uart of the judges, who shall hear the cause, shall agree in the determination : and if 
either party shall neglect to attend at the day ajjpointed, without showing reasons 
which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being present, shall refuse to strike, the Con- 
gress shall proceed to nominate three persons out of each State, and the secretary of 
Congress shall strike in behalf of such party absent or refusing ; and the judgment and 
sentence of the court, to be appointed in the manner before prescribed, shall be final 
and conclusive ; and if any of the parties shall refuse to submit to the authority of such 
court, or to appear or defend their claim or cause, the court sliall nevertlieless proceed 
to pronounce sentence, or judgment, which shall in like manner be final and decisive; the 
judgment or sentence and other proceedings being in either case transmitted to Congress, 
and lodged among the acts of Congress, for tlie security of the parties concerned: pro- 
vided that every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath, to be 
administered by one of the judges of the supreme or superior court of the State where the 
cause shall be tried, " well and truly to hear and determine the matter in question, according 
to the best of his judgment, without favor, affection, or hope of reward." Provided, also, 
that no State shall be deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States. 

Sec. .3. — All controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed under dif- 
ferent grants of two or more States, whose jurisdiction, as they may respect such lands, 
and the States which passed sucli grants are adjusted, the .said grants or either of tliem 
being at the same time claimed to have originated antecedent to such .settlement of 
jurisdiction, shall, on the petition of either party to the Congress of the United States, 
be finally determined, as near as may be, in the same manner as is before prescribed for 
deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdiction between different States. 

Sec. 4. — The United States in Congress a.ssembled shall also have the sole and 
exclusive right and power of regulating tlie alloy and value of coin struck by their own 
authority, or by that of the respective States; fi.xing the standard of weights and mea.s- 
ures throughout the United States; regulating the trade, and managing all affairs with 
the Indians, not members of any of the States; provided that the legislative right of 
any State, within its own limits, be not infringed or violated; establishing and regu- 
lating post offices from one State to another throughout all the United States, and 
exacting such postage on the papers passing through the same, as may be requisite to 
defray the expen.ses of the said office; apiiointing all officers of the land forces in the 
service of the United States, excepting regimental officers; appointing all the oflScers 
of the naval forces, and commissioning all officers whatever in the .service of the United 
States; making rules for the government and regulation of the said land and naval 
forces, and directing their operations. 

Sec. 5. — The United States in Congress a.ssembled shall have authority to appoint 
a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, to be denominated, "-4 Commxtie.e of the 
States," and to consist of one delegate from each State; and to appoint such other com- 
mittees and civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the 
United States under their direction; to appoint one of their number to preside; pro- 
vided that no per.son be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year 
In any term of three years; to ascertain the necessary sums of money to be raised for 



APPENDIX D. 743 

the service of the United States, aiul U> ajuiropriate and apply the same for de:!^ying 
tlie public expenses; to borrow money or emit bills on the credit of the United States, 
transmitting every half-year to the respective States an account of the sums of money 
so borrowed or emitted ; to build and equip a navy ; to agree upon tlie number of land 
forces, and to make requisitions from each State for its quota, in proportion to tlie 
number of white inhabitants in such State, which requisition sliall be binding; and 
thereupon the legislature of each State shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the 
men, clothe, arm, and equij) "them, in a soldier-like manner, at the expense of the 
United States; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and equipped, shall march 
to the place appointed, and within tlie time agreed on by the United States in Congress 
assembled ; but if the United States in Congress assembled shall, on consideration of 
circumstances, judge proper that any State should not raise men, or should raise a 
smaller number than its quota, and that any other State sliould raise a greater number 
of men than the quota thereof, such extra number shall be raised, officered, clothed, 
armed, and equijiped, in the same manner as the quota of such State, unless the legis- 
lature of such State shall judge that such extra number can not be safely spared out o£ 
the same, in which case they shall raise, officer, clotlie, arm, and equip, as many of such 
extra number as they judge can be safely spared, and the officers and men so clothed, 
armed, and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed 
on by the United States in Congress assembled. 

Sec. 6. — The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war, nor 
grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into any treaties or 
alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and 
exi)enses necessary for the defence and welfare of the United States, or any of them, 
nor emit bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate 
money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war to be bnilt or purchased, or the 
number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a commander-in-chief of the 
army or navy, unless nine States assent to the same : nor shall a question on any other 
point, except for adjourning from day to day, be determined, unless by the votes of a 
majority of the United States in Congress assembled. 

Sec. 7. — The Congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to any 
time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so that no period of 
adjournment be for a longer duration than the space of six months, and shall publish 
the journal of their proceedings monthly, except such parts thereof relating to treaties, 
alliances, or military operations, as in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas 
and nays of the delegates of each State, on any question, shall be entered on the journal, 
when it is desired by any delegate ; and the delegates of a State, or any of them, at his 
or their request, shall be furnished with a transcript of the said journal, except such 
parts as are above excepted, to lay before the legislatures of the several States. 

ARTICLE X. 

The Committee of the States, or any nine of them, shall be autliorized to execute> 
in the recess of Congress, such of the powers of Congress as the United States, in Con- 
gress assembled, by the consent of nine States, shall, from time to time, think expedient 
to vest them with ; provided that no power be delegated to the said committee, for the 
exercise of which, by the Articles of Confederation, the voice of nine States, in the 
Congress of the United States assembled, is requisite. 

ARTICLE XI. 

Canada, acceding to this Confederation, and joining in the measures Oi the United 
UStates, shall be admitted into and entitled to all the advantages of this Union: But 



744 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 

BO other colony sliall be aiimitted into the same, unless such ailniissjon be agreed toly 
nine States. 

ARTICLE XII. 

All bills of credit emitted, moneys borrowed, and debts contracted by or under the 
authority of Congress, before the assembling of tlie United States, in jmrsuance of the 
present Confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a charge against the United 
States, for payment ami satisfaction whereof the said United States and tlie public faitt 
ire hereby solemnly pledged. 

ARTICLE Xni. 

Every State shall abide by the determination of the United States in Congress 
assembled, in all tjuestions which by this Confederation are submitted to them. And 
the articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and 
the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in 
any of them ; unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, 
and be afterwards confirmed by the legislature of every State. 

And whereas it hath pleased the great Governor of the world to incline the hearts 
of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress to approve of, and to authorize 
us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, Know ye, that we, 
the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that 
purpose, do by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective constituents, 
fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the said Articles of Confed- 
eration and Perpetual Union, and all and singular the matters and things therein con- 
tained. And we do further solemnly plig'iit and engage the faith of our respective 
constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the United States in Con- 
gress assembled, in all questions which by the said Confederation are submitted to 
them; and that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States we 
respectively represent, and tliat the union shall be perpetual In witness whereof we 
have hereunto set our hands in Congress. 

Dmie at PliiUulelpliia, in the State of Pennsylvania, the 9lh day of July, in the year oj our Lard 
1778, and in the third year of the Independence of Ameiica. 

New Hampshire. — Josiah Barllett, John Wentworth, Jr. 

Massachusetts Bay. — John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Elbridge Gerry, Francis 
Dana, James Lovel, Samuel Holton. 

Rhode Island, etc. — William Ellery, Henry Marchant, John Collins. 

Connecticut. — Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, Oliver Wolcott, Titus Hos- 
mer, Andrew Adams. 

New York.— James Duane, Francis Lewis, William Duer, Gouverneur Morris. 

New Jersey. — John Witherspoon, Nath. Scudder. 

Pennsylvania. — Robert Morri-s, Daniel Roberdeau, Jona Bayard Smith, Willi:ii 
Ciingan, Joseph Reed. 

Delaware.— Thomas M'Kean, John Dickinson, Nicholas Van Dyke. 

Maryland. — John Hanson, Daniel Carroll. 

Virginia. — Richard Henry Lee, John Banister, Thomas .\dams, John Harvie, 
Francis Lightfoot Lee. 

North Carolina. — John Penn, Cons. Harnett, John Williams. 

South Carolina.— Henry Laurens, Wra. Henry Drayton, John Matthews, Richard 
Hutson, Thomas Hey ward, Jr. 

Georgia. — John Walton, Edward Telfair, Edward Langworthj. 



APPENDIX E. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish 
justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the gen- 
eral welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain 
and establish this Constitution for the United States of North America. 

ARTICLE I. 

Section 1. — All legislative powers herein granted sliall he vested in a Con- 
gress of the United States, whicli shall consist of a Senate and House of Repre- 
Bentatives. 

Sec. 2.— The House of Representatives shall be composed of members cliosen 
every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State 
shall have the qualiBcations requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of th« 
State legislature. 

No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age ol 
twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall 
not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. 

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States 
wliich may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which 
shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including tliose 
bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of 
all otlier persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the 
first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and witliin every subsequent term of 
ten years, in such manner as tliey .shall by law direct. The number of representatives 
shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand ; but eac)> State shall have at least one 
representative; and until .sucli enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire 
sliall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts, eight, Rhode -Island and Providence 
Plantations, one, Connecticut, five, New York, six, New Jersey, four, Pennsylvania, 
eight, Delaware, one, Maryland, six, Virginia, ten. North Carolina, five, South Carolina, 
five, and Georgia, three. 

When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive 
authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill sucli vacancies. 

Tlie House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other oflBcers; and 
shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Sec. 3. — The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from 
each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have 
one vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, 
they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the 
senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the 

745 



T46 comriTurioN of the usited states. 

eecond class, at tlie expiration of tlie fourth year, ami of tlie tliird class at the expira- 
tion of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if 
vacancies hajipen, by resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of 
any State, the executive thereof mK.y make temporary appointments until the next 
meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. 

No person sliall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, 
and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, l)e 
an inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice-President of the United States shall be president of the Senate, but shall 
have no vote, unle.ss they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro tempore, in the 
ab.sence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office as President of the 
United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for 
that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United 
States is tried, the chief-justice shall ])reside ; and no person shall be convicted without 
the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. 

Judgment, in cases of impeachment, .shall not extend further than to removal from 
office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under 
the United States; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to 
indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law. 

Sec. 4. — The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and rep- 
re.sentatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof; but the Con- 
gress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the places 
of choosing senators. 

The Congress shall a.ssemhle at least once in every year; and such meeting 
shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a dif- 
ferent day. 

Sec. 5. — Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications 
of its own members; and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; 
but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel 
the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each 
house may provide. 

Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for 
disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. 

Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish 
the .same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas 
and nays of the members of either hou.se, on any question, shall, at the desire of one- 
fifth of those present, be entered on the journal. 

Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the 
other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the 
two houses shall be sitting. 

Sec. 6. — The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their 
services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. 
They shall, in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged 
from arrest during their attendance on the session of their respective hou.ses, and in 
going to and returning from the .same ; and, for any speech or debate in either house, 
they shall not be questioned in any other place. 

No .senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be 
appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States which shall have 
been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased, during such time; 



APPENDIX E. 747 

and no person lioUling any office under the United States shall be a member of eithej 
house during liis continuance in office. 

Sec. 7. — All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Eepresenta- 
tives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on otlier bills. 

Every bill which shall have passed the House of Kepresentatives and the Senate, 
shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States ; if he 
approve he shall sign it. but if not he shall return it, with his objections, to that house 
in which it shall lun-e originated, who shall enter the objections at large on Iheii 
journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that 
house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the 
other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and, if approved by two-thirds 
of that house, it shall become a law. But, in all such cases, the votes of both houses 
shall be determined by yeas and nays; and the names of the persons voting for and 
against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill 
shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall 
have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed 
it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall 
not be a law. 

Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the Senate and House 
of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment), sliall be 
presented to the President of the United States; and, before the same shall take effect, 
shall be approved by him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two- 
thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limita- 
tions prescribed in the case of a bill. 

Sec. 8. — The Congress shall have power: — 

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide 
for the common defence and general welfare, of the United States; but all duties, 
imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States: 

To borrow money on the credit of the United States : 

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and 
■with the Indian trilies: 

To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject oi 
bankruptcies throughout the United States: 

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard 
of weights and measures: 

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of 
the United States : 

To establish post-offices and post-roads : 

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited 
times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and 
discoveries: 

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court: 

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and 
offences against the law of nations: 

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rule^ concerning 
captures on land and water : 

To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to that use shall be 
for a longer term than two years : 

To provide and maintain a navy : 

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval 
forces : 



748 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppreea 
Insurrections, and repel invasions: 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing 
«uch part of them as may be employed in the service of the United Stales, reserving to 
the States respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training 
the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress: 

To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not 
exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States, and the acceptance 
of Congress, become the seat of government of the United States, and to exercise like 
authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State in 
which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and 
other needful buildings: — And 

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution 
the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in tlie govern- 
ment of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof. 

Sec. 9. — The migration or importation of such persons, as any of the States now 
existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to 
the year one thousand eight hundred and eight; but a tax, or duty, may be imposed on 
Buch importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person. 

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in 
cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. 

No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 

No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census 
or enumeration, hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. No preference 
shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State ovef 
those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear 
or pay duties, in another. 

No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations 
made by law ; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of 
all public money shall be published from time to time. 

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United Stales; and no person holding 
any office of profit or trust under them shall, witliout the consent of the Congress, 
accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever, from any king, 
prince, or foreign state. 

Sec. 10. — No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant 
letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing 
but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, 
ex post Jacto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of 
nobility. 

No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties or. 
imports or exports, except what may be absolutely neces.sary for executing its in.spec- 
tion laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any State on imports 
or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws 
shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. No State shall, without 
the consent of Congres.s, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time 
of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State or with a fe-eign 
jiower, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent dacgei «r will 
Dot admit of delay. 



APPENDIX E. Y49 



ARTICLK n. 

Section 1. — The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United 
States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, tnd together 
with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be elected as follows : — • 

Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a 
.lumber of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to 
.vhich the State may be entitled in the Co. „ress ; but no senator or representative, or 
person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed 
an elector. 

The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for two per- 
sons, of whom one, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with them- 
selves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of 
votes for each ; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat 
of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the Senate. The 
president of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, 
open all the certiticates ; and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the 
•greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the 
■whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such 
majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Kepresentatives shall 
immediately choose, by ballot, one of them for President ; and if no person have a 
majority, then, from the five highest on the list, the said house shall, in like manner, 
choose the President. But, in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by 
States; the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose 
shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States ; and a majority of 
all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the 
President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be Vice- 
President. But, if there should remain two or more v/ho have equal votes, the Senate 
shall choose from them, by ballot, the Vice-President. 

The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on 
which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United 
States. 

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the 
time of the adoption of this Constitution, .shall be eligible to the office of President; 
neither shall any person be eligible to thai, offi.^e who shall not have attained to the age 
of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States. 

In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or 
inability to discharge the powtrs or duties of the said office, the .same shall devolve on 
the Vice-President ; and the Congress may, by law, provide for the case of removal, 
death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring 
.vhat officer shall then act as President; and such officer shall act accordingly, until 
the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. 

The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which 
shall neither be increa.sed nor diminished during the period for which he shall have 
been elected ; and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from 
the United States or any of them. 

Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oatli or 
affirmation : — 

" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of Pres 
ident of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, pre.serve, protect, and 
defend the Co.istitution of the United Slates." 



750 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STA TES. 

Sec. 2. — The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy (if the 
United >States, and of the militia of the several States, when called into the actual service 
of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the pririci|)al officer in 
each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their 
respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences 
against tlie United States, except in cases of irapeacliraent. 

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make 
treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and 
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint, ambassadors, other 
public ministers, and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the 
United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which 
shall be established by law : but the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of 
such inferior officers as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, 
or in tiie heads of departments. 

The President .shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during 
the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions, which shall expire at the end of 
their next session. 

Sec. 3. — He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the slate 
of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he sliall judge 
necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses, or 
either of them, and, in case of disagreement between them with respect to the time 
of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall 
receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he .shall take care that the laws be 
faithfully executed ; and shall commission all the officers of the United States. 

gEC. 4. — The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the United States, 
shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, 
or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III. 

Section 1. — The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in a Supreme 
Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and 
establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices 
during good behavior; and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compen- 
sation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. 

Sec. 2. — The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising 
under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which 
shall be made, under their authority ; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public 
ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to contro- 
versies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or 
more States, between a State and citizens of another State, between citizens of different 
States, between citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of difierent 
States, and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens, oi 
subjects. 

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in 
which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In 
all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate juri-sdic- 
tion both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the 
Congress shall make. 

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and 
Buch trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed i 



APPENDIX E. 751 

but, when not committed witliin any State, the trial shall be at such place or places ai 
the Congress may by law have directed. 

Sec. 3. — Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against 
them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall 
be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, 
or on confession in open court. 

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but nc 
ittainder of treason shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture, except during 
the life of the person attainted. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section 1. — Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, 
records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by gen- 
eral laws prescribe the manner in which snch act.s, records, and proceedings shab be 
proved, and the effect thereof. 

Sec. 2. — The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities 
of citizens in the several States. 

A person cliarged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee 
from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority 
of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having 
jurisdiction of the crime. 

No person held to service or labor in one State under the laws thereof, escaping 
into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged 
from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom 
such service or labor may be due. 

Sec. 3. — New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union ; but 
no new Slate sliall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State; 
nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, 
without the consent of the legislature of the States concerned, as well as of the 
Congress. 

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regu- 
lations respecting the territory or other properly belonging to the United States; and 
nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the 
United States, or of any particular State. 

Sec. 4. — The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a repub- 
lican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on 
application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature caa not be 
convened), against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V. 

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shail 
jopose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of 
two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, 
which, in either case, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of this Consti- 
tution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by con- 
ventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may he 
proposed by the Congress; Provided, that no amendment, which may be made prior to 
the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the first and 
fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no State, without its 
consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 



752 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



ARTICLE VI. 

All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before tlie adoption of tliis Con- 
•ti'.ution, shall be as valid against the United States under tliis Constitution, as under 
the Confederation. 

Tliis Constitution, and the laws of tlie United States which shall be m.ade in pursu- 
ance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the 
United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; and the judges in every State shall 
oe bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or law.s of any State to the contrary not- 
witliftanding. 

The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several 
State legislatures, and all executive and judicial oflficer.s, both of the United States 
and of the several States, shall be hound by oath or affirmation to support this Con- 
stitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office 
or public trust under the United States. 

ARTICLE VII. 

The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for the estab- 
lishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same. 

Done in Convenlkm by the uimnimmis consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of Sep 
tennber, in the year of nw Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In ici/hcss whereof we have 
hereunto subscribed our imnies. 

George Washington, President, 

and Deputy from Virginia. 

New Hampshire. — .John Langdon, Nicliolas Oilman. 

Mass.\chusetts. — Nathaniel Ciorham, Rufus King. 

Connecticut. — William Samuel .Johnson, lioger Sherman. 

New York. — .\le.Kaiider Hamilton. 

New Jersey. — William Livingston, David Bearly, William Patterson, .Jonathan 
Dayton. 

Pennsylvania. — Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, .fJeorge Cly- 
mer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouvernenr Morris. 

Delaware. — George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bas- 
sett, Jacob Broom. 

Maryland. — James McHenry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll. 

Virginia. — .John Blair, .James Madison, Jr. 

North Carolina. — William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson. 

.South Carolina. — John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinck» 
ley, Pierce Butler. 

Georgia. — William Few, Abraham Baldwin. 

Attest : 

William Jackson, Secretary, 



APPENDIX K 753 



AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 



ARTICLE I. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting 
4he free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the 
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of 
grievances. 

ARTICLE II. 

A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of 
the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. 

ARTICLE UI. 

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent 
of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, 
against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated ; and no warrants 
shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly 
describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V. 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless 
on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or 
naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger ; 
nor shall any person be subject, for the same ofTence, to be twice put in jeopardy of life 
or limb; nor shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself; 
nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor shall pri- 
vate property be taken for public use without just compensation. 

ARTICLE VI. 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and 
public trial, by an inipnrtiul jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have 
been committed, which district sliall have been previously ascertained by law; and to 
be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the wit- 
nesses against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor- 
and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence. 

ARTICLE VII. 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, 
the right of trial by jury sliall be preserved ; and no fact tried by a jury shall be other- 
wise re-examined in any court of the United States than according to the rules of the 
common law. 

48 



754 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



ARTICLE VIII. 



Excessive bail sball mil be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and 
unusual j)iinisliinents inflicted. 



ARTICLE IX. 



The enumeration in tbc Conslitution of certain rights, shall not be construed lo 
.Jeny or disparage others retained by the people. 



ARTICLE X. 



The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited 
by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. 



ARTICLE XI. 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit 
in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens 
of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State. 

ARTICLE XII. 

The electors s*hall meet in their respective Slates, and vote by ballot for President 
and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same Stato 
witli themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and 
in distinct ballots the person voted U\v as Vice-President; and they shall make distinct 
lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, 
and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit 
sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the 
Senate; the president of the Senate shall, in tlie presence of the Senate and House of 
Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the per- 
son having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if such 
number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have 
such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding tbicc 
on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Kepresentatives shall choose 
immediately, by ballot, the President. But, in choosing the President, the votes shall 
be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for 
this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a 
majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Repre- 
sentatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon 
them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act 
as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the Pres- 
ident. 

The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, .shall be the 
Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; 
and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the 
Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two- 
thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be 
necessary to a choice. 

But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President, shall be eligiblb 
to that of Vice-President of the United States, 



APPENDIX E. 755 



ARTICLE XIII. 

Section 1. — Neitlier slavery nor iiivoliintarv servitude, except as a piinisliment for 
crime, whereof tlie parly sliall have been duly coiivioted, shall exist williin the United 
States, or any place suhject to their jurisdiction. 

Sec. 2. — Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by ai>propriate leg- 
islation. 

ARTICLE xrv. 

Section 1. — All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject tc 
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they 
reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges 
or immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any State deprive any person 
of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within 
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

Sec. 2. — Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States, according 
to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, 
excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for choice of 
electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, representatives in C(m- 
gress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature 
thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State being twenty-one years 
of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation 
in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in 
the proportion which the number of .such male citizens shall bear to the whole number 
of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Sec. 3. — No person shall be a senator, or representative in Congress, or elector of 
President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or militarj', under the United 
States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath as a member of Con- 
gresF, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as 
an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United 
States, .shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or 
comfort to the enemies thereof; but Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each 
hou,se, remove such disability. 

Sec. 4. — The validity of the public debt of the United States authorized by law, 
including debts incurred for payment of pensions, and bounties for services in suppress- 
ing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States, 
nor any State, shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection 
or rebellion against the United vStates, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any 
slave; hut all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. 

Sec. 5. — The Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation the 
Drovisions of this Article. 

article XV. 

Section 1. — The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied 
IT abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous 
condition of servitude. 

Sec. 2. — The Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate 
legifilatioD. 



APPENDIX F. 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

FRrEKDS AND FeLLOW-CiTIZENS : — 

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government 
of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your 
thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that 
Important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more dis- 
tinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I 
have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a 
tlioice is to be made. 

1 beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution 
has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the 
relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country ; and that, in withdrawing the 
tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no 
diminution of zeal for your future interest; no deficiency of grateful respect for your 
past kindness; but am supported by a full conviction tliat the step is compatible 
with both. 

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the oflSce to which your suffrages 
have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of 
duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that 
it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was 
not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluc- 
tantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, 
had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflec- 
tion on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and 
the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon 
the idea. 

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer 
renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety: 
and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my .services, that, in th" 
present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove of my determination to 
retire. 

The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on 
ihe proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with 
good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the gov- 
ernment the Ijest exertions of which a very fallilde judgment was capalile. Not uncon- 
scious in the outset of the inferiority of any qualifications, e.xperience, in my own eyes — 
perhaps still more in the eyes of others — has strengthened the motives to difiidence of 
myself; and every uiy the increasing weight of years admonishes me, more and moro, 
that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied thnt 
if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services they were tempurary, I 

750 



APPENDIX F. 757 

have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the 
political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. 

In looking forward to the moment wliich is intended to terminate the career of my 
public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that 
debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has con- 
ferred upon me ; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me- 
and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attach- 
ment, by services faithful and persevering, thotigh in usefulness unequal to my zeal. 
If benefits have resulted to our country from tnese services, let it always be remembered 
to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that, under circumstances 
in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead ; amidst 
appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging; in situations 
in which, not nnfrequentiy, want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism — 
the constancy of your sujiport was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of 
the plans, by whicli they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall 
carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing wishes, that Heaven 
may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence ; that your union and broth- 
erly affection may be perpetual ; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your 
hands, may be sacredly maintained ; that its administration, in every department, may 
be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these 
States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so careful a preserva- 
tion and so j^rudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recom- 
mending it to the applause, the afi'ection, and adoption of every nation which is yet 
a stranger to it. 

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop; but a .solicitude for your welfare, which can not 
end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge 
me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to 
recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments wliicli are the result of much 
reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to 
the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the 
more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting 
friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsels; nor can I forget, 
as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and 
not dis.similar occasion. 

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recom- 
mendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. 

The Unity of Government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to 
you. It is justly so ; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence — 
the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your 
]irosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee 
that, from different causes and fmin different quarters, much pains will be taken, many 
artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth ; as this is the 
point in yotir political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external ene- 
mies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) 
directed— it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value 
of your National Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should 
cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming your.selves 
to think and speak of it as the palladium or your political .safety and prosperity; 
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may 
suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned; and indignantly 
frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our 



758 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

country from tlie rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together tha 
various parts. 

For this you have every inclucoraent of sympathy and interest. Citizen.^ by birth 
or choice, of a common country, tliat country lias a right to concentrate your aflections. 
The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always 
exalt the just pride of patriotism, more tlian any appellation derived from local dis- 
criminations. With slight shades of difTerence, you have the same religion, manners 
habits, and political principles. You have, in a common cause, fought and triumphed 
together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels ana 
ioint efforts — of common dangers, sufferings, and successes. 

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your 
sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those whicli apply more immediately to your 
interest: here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for 
carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole. 

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal 
laws of a common government, finds, in the productions of the latter, great additional 
resources of maritime and commersial enterprise, and precious materials of manu- 
facturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency ot 
the North, sees its agriculture grow, and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its 
own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; 
and while it contributes, in different ways, (o nourish and increase the general mass oi 
the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength to 
which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already 
finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications, by land and 
water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities wl\icli it brings 
from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies 
requisite to its growth and comfort — and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, 
it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own pro- 
ductions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime streiiglb of the .\tlantic side 
of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any 
other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived 
from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any 
foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. 

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular 
interest in Union, all the parts combined can not fail to find in the united mass of 
means and efforts, greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security 
from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; 
and what is of inestimable value, they must derive from Union an exemption from 
those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afllict neighboring 
countrie.1, not tied togetlier by the same government; which their own rivalsliips alone 
would be sufficient to produce, but which opjiosite foreign alliances, attachments, and 
intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity 
of those overgrown military establishments, which under any form of government are 
inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly ho.stile to Repub- 
lican Liberty. In this sense it is, that your Union ought to be considered as the main 
prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you tlie preserva- 
tion of the other. 

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous 
mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. 
Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let 
experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We 



APPENDIX F. 75',) 

are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxilian 
agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issua 
to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such pow- 
erful and obvious motives to Union affecting all parts of our country, while expe- 
rience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason 
to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaicen 
its bands. 

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter o£ 
i<erious concern, tliat any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties 
by geographical discriminations — Northern and Southern, Attant'c and Western; whenca 
designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local inter- 
e.sts and view.s. One of tlie expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular 
districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. Yon lan not shield 
yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings which .spring from thes» 
misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other tho.se who ought to be 
bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our Western country have 
lately had a useful lesson on this head : they have seen, in the negotiation by the exec- 
utive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and 
in the universal satisfaction at the event throughout the United States, a decisive proof 
how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the genera) 
government, and in the Atlantic States, unfriendly to their interests in regard to the 
Mississippi : they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great 
Britain and that with Spain, which secure to them every thing they could desire, 
in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not 
be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by 
which they were procured? Will they nut henceforth be deaf to those advisers, 
if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren, and connect them 
with aliens? 

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is 
indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate 
suhstitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which 
all alliances in all times have experienced. vSensible of this momentous truth, you 
have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a Constitution of government 
better calculated than your former for an intimate Union, and for the efficacious man- 
agement of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of your own 
choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and nuiture delib- 
eration, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting 
security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, 
has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, com- 
pliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the funda 
mental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the 
people to make, and to alter their constitutions of government. But the constitution 
which at any time exist.s, until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole 
people, is .sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of 
the people to establish governiuent, presupposes the duty of every individual to obey 
the established government. 

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, 
under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, 
or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive 
of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, 
to give it an artificial and extraordinary force — to put in the place of the delegated 



760 WASHIXGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

will of the nation, tlie will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minor- 
ity of the community ; and, according to the alternate triumphs of difi'erent parties, to 
make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous 
projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested 
by common councils and modified by mutual interests. 

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then 
tnswer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to becon-^ 
potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be en. - 
bled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of 
government; destroying afterward the very engines which have lifted them to unjust 
dominion. 

Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present 
happy state, it is requisite, not only tliat you steadily discountenance irregular 
opposition to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the 
epiiit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method 
of assault may be to efTect in the forms of the Constitution alterations which will 
impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what can not be directly 
overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time 
and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments, as 
of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test 
the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country — that facility in changes 
upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change from 
the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for 
the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as 
ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of 
liberty, is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers 
properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else 
than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of fac- 
tion, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, 
and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and 
property. 

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular 
reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take 
a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the 
baneful efiects of the spirit of part)', generally. 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the 
strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all govern- 
ments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed ; but in those of the popular form, it 
is seen in its greatest rankness, and it is truly their worst enemy. 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of 
revenge, natural to party dissension, which in diflierent ages and countries has perpe- 
irated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despoti.sm. But this leads at 
length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which 
reBult, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in tlie absolute 
power of an individual ; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more 
able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of 
his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which, nevertheless, ought 
not to be entirely out of sight I, the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of 
party are sufficient to make it the interest and the duty of a wise people to discourage 
ami restrain it 



API'EXDIX F. 761 

It serves always to distract (he public councils, ami enfeeble the public adminis- 
tration. It nsitates tlie community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kin- 
dles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insu'Tection. 
It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to 
the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the jioliey and 
the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. 

There is an opinion that parlies in free countries are useful checks upon the ad 
ministration of government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within 
certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism 
may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of 
the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encour- 
aged. From their natural tendency it is certain there will always be enough of that 
spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort 
ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be 
quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, in- 
stead of warming, it should consume. 

It is important, likewi.se, that the habits, of thinking, in a free country, should 
inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration, to confine themselves withii" 
their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of on<» 
department to encroach ui>on another. The spirit of encroachment tends to con- 
eolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the foriF 
of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and prone- 
ness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy ur 
of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the e.xercisF 
nf political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, anrf 
constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, 
has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern ; some of them in our country 
and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. 
If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutiona) 
powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way 
which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation ; for 
though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary 
weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly 
overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any 
time yield. 

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and 
morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribtite of 
patriotism, who should labor to subvert the.se great pillars of human happiness, the.se 
firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the 
pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their 
connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the 
security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert 
the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us 
with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. 
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar 
structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can 
prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 

It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular 
government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free 
government. Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts 
to shake the foundation of the fabric? 



762 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for th? general dif- 
tasion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to 
public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. 

As a very important source of .strength and security, cherisli public credit. <_)ne 
method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of ex- 
pense by cultivating peace; but remembering also that timely disbiir.sements to prejiars 
for danger, frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding like- 
wise the accumulation of debt, not only by sliunning occasions of expense, but by vig- 
orous exertions in time of peace to discU.vrge the debts which unavoidable wars may 
have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we our- 
selves ought to bear. The execution of tliese maxims belongs to your Representatives, 
but it is neces.sary that public opinion sliould co-operate. To facilitate to tliem the 
performance of their duty, it is ei^sential that you should practically bear in mind, that 
toward the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there nuist be 
taxes ; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and 
unpleasant ; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper 
objects (which is always a choice of difficulties) ought to be a decisive motive for a 
candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a .spirit of 
acijuiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue which the public exigencies may at 
any time dictate. 

Ob.serve good faith and justice towards all nations, cultivate peace and harmony with 
all ; religion and morality enjoin this conduct, and can it be that good policy cioes not 
equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a 
great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people 
always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt but that in the 
course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary 
advantage which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be that Providence 
has not connected tlie permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, 
at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it 
rendered impossible by its vices? 

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, 
inveterate antipathies again.st particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, 
Bhould be excluded ; and that in place of them just and amicable feelings towards all 
should be cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or 
an habitual fondnes.s, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or its aflec- 
tion, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interests. Antip- 
atliy ill one nation against another, disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, 
to lay hold of slight cau.ses of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when 
accidental or trilling occasions of dispute occur. Hence fretpient coUi.sions, obstinate, 
envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, 
Bometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. 
The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through 
passion what reason would reject ; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation 
subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and 
pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations haa 
been the victim. 

So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for anotlier produces a variety 
of evils. Sympathy for tfie favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary 
common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infu.sing into one 
the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels 
»nd wars yf the latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also 



APPENDIX F. 763 

to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt 
douhiy to injure the nation making the concessions, by unnecessarily parting with 
what ought to have been retained; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a dispo- 
sition to I'etaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And 
it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to 
the favorite nation) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own countiy, 
without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding with the appearance of a 
virtuous sense of obligation a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable 
zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or 
infatuation. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are 
particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many 
opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions; to practice the arts of 
sedition, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the jjublic councils! Such an 
attachment of a small and weak, towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former 
to be the satellite of the latter. Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I 
conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens,) the jealousy of a free people ought to be 
constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of 
the most baneful foes of Republican Government. But that jealousy be useful must 
be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead 
of a defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive 
dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and 
serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who 
may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; 
while its tools and dupes usurp the a|)plau.se and confidence of the people, to surrender 
their interest. 

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our 
commercial relation.s, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So 
far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. 
Here let us stop. 

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote 
relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are 
essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwi.se in us to impli- 
cate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicii^situdes of her politics, or the ordi- 
nary combinations and collisions of her friendship* or enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different 
course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is 
not far ofT when we may defy material injury from external annoyance ; when we 
take such an attitude as will cau.se the neutrality we may at any time resolve 
upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossi- 
bility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provo- 
cation ; when we may choo.se peace or war, as our interest, guided by ju.stice, shall 
counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit your own to 
stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part 
of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival- 
ship, interest, humor, or caprice? 

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of 
the foreign world — so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not 
be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold 
the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always 



7f)4 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

the best policy. I rjpeat it, theiefore, let those engagements be observed in their 
genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary, and would be unwise to extend 
them. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable 
defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emer- 
gencies. 

Harmony, and liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, 
bnmanity, and interest. 

But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial band ; neither 
seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; — consulting the n.atural course 
of things; difiusing and diversifying by gentle means tbe streams of commerce, but 
forcing nothing ; establishing, with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable 
course, to define the rights of (mr merchants, and to enable the government to support 
them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual 
opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned 
or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate ; constantly keeping in view, 
that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it 
must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that char- 
acter; that by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given 
e(iuivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not 
giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon, real 
favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just 
pride ought to discard. 

In offering to you, my countrymen, tliese counsels of an old and affectionate friend. 
I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impres.sion I could wish — that 
they will control the usual current of the pas.sions, or prevent our nation from running the 
course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But if I may even flatter my- 
self that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they 
may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party sjiirit, to warn against the mis- 
chiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism ; this 
liope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare by which they have 
been dictated. 

How far in the discbarge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles 
which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must 
witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that 
I have at least believed myself to be guided by them. 

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the 22d 
of April, 1793, is tbe index to my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and 
by that of your Representatives in both Houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure 
has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me 
from it. 

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was 
well satisfied that our countrj-, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to 
take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, 
I determined, as far as .should depend upon me, to maintain it with moderation, perse- 
verance, and firmness. 

The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary 
on this occasion to detail. I will only observe, that, according to my understanding of 
(he matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent Powers, has 
6een virtually admitted by all. 

The duty of bidding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without any thing more. 



APPENDIX F. 7-C5 

from the obligation whlcli justice and humanity imposes on every nation, in cases in 
which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards 
other nations. 

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred 
to your own reflections and experience. With me, a predominant motive has been 
to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent insti- 
tutions, and to progress, without interruption, to that degree of strength and con- 
sistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its owr 
fortunes. 

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious oi 
intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects, not to think it prob- 
able that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently 
beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall 
also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indul- 
gence ; and that after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service, with an upright 
zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must 
soon be to the mansions of rest. 

Relying on its kindne.ss in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent 
love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of him- 
self and his progenitors for several generations; I anticipate with pleasing expec- 
tation that retreat, in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet 
enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign Influence of 
good laws under a free government — the ever favorite object of my heart, and the 
happy reward, aa I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. 

U. WA^HUKaTOH. 

United States, Vllk September, 1796. 



APPENDIX G. 



THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

{If the Emancipation Proclamation is to be regarded as the cause of the freedom 
cf the African race in tlie United States, then indeed must it be considered as among 
the most important documents known in history: perhaps the most important of all. 
The truer view of the case, however, seems to be this: The inexorable Logic of Events 
was rapidly bringing about the emancipation of the slaves. The National government 
fell under a stringent necessity to strike a blow at the labor system of the Southern 
States. With every sti-uggle of the war the sentiment of abolition at the North rose 
higher and higher. The President him.self and the chief supporters of his administra- 
tion had for years made no concealment of their desire that all men everywhere 
ehould be free. The occasion was at hand. Mr. Lincoln seized and generalized the 
facts, embodied them in his own words, and became for all time the oracle and inter- 
preter of National Necessity. — The Author.] 

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a Proclamation was issued by the President of 
the United States, containing among other things the following, to wit: 

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-tliree, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part 
of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall 
be then, thenceforward and forever free, and the executive government of the United 
State.s, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and main- 
tain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or 
any of tnem, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom." 

" That the executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, 
designate the States and parts of States, if any, in whicli the people thereof resjiectively 
shall then lie in rebellion against the United States, and (lie fact that any State, or the 
people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the 
United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the quali- 
fied voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong coun- 
tervailing testimony, be c'eemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people 
thereof are not then in rebellion against the LTnited States." 

Now, therefore, I, .\braham Lincoln, President of the United Slates, by virtue 
of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the 
United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government 
•f the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said 

T^ifi 



APPENDIX G. 767 

rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in tlie year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly 
proclaim for the full period of one hundred days from the day the first above- 
mentioned, order and designate, as the States and parts of States wherein the people 
thereof respectively are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, 
to wit: 

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, 
.Tefi'erson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne 
Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mis- 
sissippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and 
Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the 
counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and 
Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts 
are, for the present, left precisely as if this Proclamation were not i.ssued. 

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare 
that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and 
henceforward .shall be fiee ; and that the executive government of the United States, 
including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the 
freedom of said persons. 

And I herel>y enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, to abstain from all 
violence, unless in necessary self-defence, and I recommend to them that in all cases, 
when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. 

And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition 
will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, 
stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. 

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the 
Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke tlie considerate judgment of mankind 
and the gracious favor of Almighty God. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name, and caused the seal of the 
United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washingtcm, this first day of January, in the year of our 
[ L. s. ] Lord one thousand eiijht hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence 

of the United States tfie eiyhty-seventK 

Abraham Lincoln. 
Sy the President : ' 

William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State. 



PR0I^^TJ]S^CIAT10]S^ OF PPvOPEB NAMES. 

[E., English; F., French; S., Spanish; P., Portugese; It., Italian; G., German; N., Norse; Sw, 
Swedish ; Pol., Polish ; L., Latin ; I., Indian.] 



Abenaki [I.], ilb-e-nah-ki. 

A.bercronibie [E.], Sb-er-krum-bi. 

A-det [F.]. ah-da. 

\dolpluis [L], a-dol-ffis. 

Aix-la-Clucpelle [F.]. aks-lah-shah-p6l. 

Algonqniii [I.], il-gon-keii. 

Almonte [S.], al-nion-te. 

Alvarado [S.], al-va-rah-do. 

Ambrister [E.], dni-bris-ter. 

Amerigo Vespucci [It.], ah-mer-e-gO ves- 

poot-i'be. 
Amidas [E], iim-id-ils. 
Ampudia [•S.], am-poo-di-a. 
Andre [F.], aii-dia. 
Antietam [E.], an-te-t&m. 
Antonio de Kspego [8.], ahn-to-ni-O da es- 

psi-lio. 
Arbuthnot [E.], alirbuth-not. 
Arista [S.], ah-ris-la. 
Armada [S.], ahr-mah-di. 
Ashe [E.], flsh. 
Au Giaize [F.], O-glaz. 
Avavalia [S.], i-ab-vahl-ya. 
Ayotla [S.], l-ot-la. 
Aztecs [I.], ftz-teks. 
Bahia [S.], bah-e a. 
Balfour [K.], bal-foor. 
Barron [E.], bahr-ron. 
Baum [E.], bawm. 
Baumarcbais [F.], bo-mahr-sha. 
Bayard [E.], blahrd. 
Beaujeu [F.], b("5-zhu. 
Beauregard [F".], bo-ra-gahrd. 
Beau-Sejour [F.J, IjO-.sa-zhoop. 
BeUomont [E.], bOI-o-mont. 
liernard [E.], ber-nahrd. 
Bienville [F.], be-ong-vel. 
Bleiinerba.'isett [E.], blen-ner-hSs-set. 
BIytb [E.], blith. 
Boscawen [E.], bos-kaw-en. 
Buddhist [Sanscrit], bood-dist. 
Bulkeley [E.], bulk-li. 
Burgovne [E.], biir-^oin. 
Cabot [E.], kftb-ot. 
Cadwallader [E.], kad-wahl-li-der. 
Canonchet [I.], ka-noii-shet. 
Canonicus [1.], ka-non-i-ku.s. 
Canseau [F.], kan-so. 
Carleton [E.] kahrl-tiin. 
Cartier [F.], kabr-ti-a. 
Casimer [Sw.], kfts i-m6r. 
Castiii [F.], k;'is-tftn. 
Chabot [F'.], sha-bo. 
Cham [Tartar], kdm. 
Chanipe [E.l, kdnip. 
Champlain [F.], sham-plan. 

Tt;s 



Chapultepec [S.], kali-pool-ta-p6k. 

Cbaudiere [F.], sho-de-ar. 

Chauncey [E.], chawn-se. 

Cherbourg [F.]. sher-boorg. 

Cherokee [I.], cher-O-ke. 

Chickamauga [E.], chik-a-inaw-g3,. 

Chickasavvs [I.], cliik-a-sawz. 

Chicora [8.], che-ko-ra. 

Chignecto [I.], she-nfk-tfs. 

Chihuahan [.S.], slie-wah-wah. 

Choctaw.'i [I.], chok-tawz. 

Cliristison [8w.], kris-ti-aun. 

Chri.stophe [.S.], kris-to-fe. 

Chrysler [E.], kris-ler. 

Churubusco [S.], koo-roo-boos-kO. 

Clarendon [E.], klftr en-dun. 

Cochrane [E.], kok-ran. 

Coligni [F.J, ko-leii-ye. 

Columbu.^ [L.], ko-luni-bfis. 

Comanclies [I.], ko-niftn cliez. 

Conde [F.], kon-da. 

Contreras [S.], kOn-tra-ris. 

Copernicus [L.], ko-per-ni-kiis. 

Copley [E.], kop-le. 

Corces [I.], ko-rez. 

CorMwallis [E.], kawrn-wahl-lis. 

Credit Mobilier [F.], cra-dlmO-bil-i-ac. 

Croghan [E.], krog-han. 

Dacres [E.], dflk-erz. 

Dahlgren [E.], dftl-gren. 

Darrali [E.], dahp-rah. 

D'.Vuville [F.], dong-vel. 

D'Aubrev [F.], dO-bra. 

Dave [E.], da. 

De Barras [F.], dii bahr-rah. 

Decatur [E.j, de-kii-tur. 

De Fleury [F.], dii flnr-i. 

De (irasse [F.], dfi grfls. 

De Kalb [F.], dii kahlb. 

Delaplace ['/.], dii-la-pias. 

De Monts [F.], du inoiig'. 

D'Estaing [F.], da-stflng. 

De Trrnay [F.], du ter-na. 

De Vaca [S.], da vah-kS. 

De Vcrg(ir [F.], dii-vnr-gor. 

De Villiers [F.], dii-vel-yar. 

De Vries [F.]. du vrez. 

Dieskau [F.], de-es-ko. 

Dominic de Gourges [F.], dO-man-ek dii 

Dongau [E.], dfni-gan. 
Doniplian [E.], doii-ilaii. 
Dupont [E.], du-pont. 
Du Quesne [F.], de-kan. 
Dyar [E.], dl-ar. 
Eldorado [S.], el-do pah-d(5. 



PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES. 



T69 



Elkswatawa [I.], elks-wah-tah-wah. 

Eiiiiicrau [I.], e-niook-faw. 

Endicott [E.], eii-di-kot. 

Ericsson [E.]. er-iks-suii. 

Erskine [E.], er-skiii. 

Es()|iiis [E.], e-so-ptis. 

Esqiiiiiuuix [I.], e«-ki-ni(")Z. 

Earragiit [E.] fahr-ia-gn. 

Ferdinand de Soto [S.], fer-di-nahnd da 

so-tO. 
Ferdinand Gorges [E.], f grdi-nand gor-jez. 
Ferdinand Magellen [P.], fer-dinand nia- 

jel-Ian. 
Ferguson [E.], fur-gu-siin. 
Fernandez de Cordova [S.], fer-nahn-deth 

da k6r-d0-%a. 
Fernando (Jortez [S.], fer-nalin-dO kOr-teth. 
Foucliet [F.], loo-sha. 
Fraser [E.], fra-zer. 
Freneau [E.], fre-no. 
Frobisher [E], frob-lsli-er. 
Frontenac [F.], fron-te-nftk. 
Gabarus [E.], ga-bflr-us. 
Galileo [It.], gah-li-la-O. 
Gambler [F.], galiiu-bi-a. 
Ganowanian [I], galmo-wahn-i.an. 
Gaapar CortereaJ [P.], gahs-palir kor-ta-ra- 

ahl. 
Gasp^ [F.], gas-pa. 
Gawen [E.], gaw-en. 
Genet [F.], zhe-na. 
Gillis [G.], gil-lls. 
Gladwyn [E.], giad-win. 
Gloucester [E.], glos-ter. 
Godyn [E.], gO-diii. 
Gofle [E.], gawf. 
Gorgeana [£•], gor-je-Sn-a. 
Gosnold [E.], gos-nOld. 
Goulburn [E.]. gool-burn. 
Grierson [E.], grer-sun. 
Grijalva [S.], gre-hahl-va. 
Giierriere [F.], ger-rl-ar. 
Gnstavus [L.], gus-ta-viis. 
Hakluyt [E.], hak-Uiot. 
Havre de Grace [F.], bahver-dii-grfis. 
Hayne [E.], haii. 
Heister [G.], his-ter. 
Herjulfson [N.], hfir-yoolf-sOn. 
Herkimer [E.], hur-ki-mer. 
Hertel [F.], Iier-tel. 
Hochelaga [I], hok-e lah-ga. 
Hosset [G.], hos-set. 
Houston [E.], hows-tun. 
Hovenden [E-], ho-ven-den. 
Hugenots [F.], hu-ge-nots. 
Iroquois [I.], ir-O-Kwah. 
Isabella [S.], iz-a-bel-la. 
Isle-au.x-Noix [F.], el-o-nooah. 
luka [E.], I-yoo-ka. 
Jameson [E.J, jam-e-sun. 
Joris [G.], yo-ris. 
Juan Ponce de Leon [S.], hwahn pon-tlia 

da la-on. 
49 



Juarez [S.], hwaw-rgth. 

Juraonville [F.], zliS-niong-vel. 

Kamtcbatkans [I.], kam-tchfit-k&nz. 

Kearney [E.], kahr-ne. 

Kearsarge [E.], hahr-sabr-gg, itv U^r sniirj 

Kieft [E.], keft. 

Klamatlis [I.], klflm-albs. 

Knowlldii [E], iiOI-lnn. 

Knypbaiistii [<;.], iiep-bow-sen. 

Kosciusko [Pol.], kOs-sI-iis-ko. 

Kossuth [G.], kos-shoot. 

Koszta [Hungarian], kot-ta. 

La Colle [F.], la-kol. 

La Favette [F.], la-fa-ft. 

La Fitle [F.], la-fit. 

La Roche [F.], la-rosh. 

La Roque [F.], la-rok. 

La Salle [F.], la-sftl. 

Lathrop [E.], la-tbrflp. 

Laudonniere [F.], lo-don-ni-ar. 

Laurie [E.], law-ri. 

La Vega [S.], lab va-ga. 

Le B.euf [F.],'lii-buf. 

Leddra [E.], led-ra. 

Ledyanl [E.], led-yahrd. 

Leisler [G.], li.s-ler. 

Leitcb [E], lech. 

Leverett [E.], If v-er-et. 

Leyden [G], ll-den. 

Lief Eriekson [N], lef 6r-Ik-siin. 

Lionel [E.], li-O-nel. 

Lopez [S.], 16-peth. 

Loudoun [E.], loo-doon. 

Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon [S.], lao-kahs 

vahs-keth da il-yon. 
Liitzen [G.], letz-en. 
Luzerne [Swiss], loo-zerii. 
Macdonough [E.], niak-don-O. 
Maedougall [E.], inak-doo-gal. 
Macomb [E.], ma-kom. 
Magaw [E.], ina-gaw. 
Mandeville [E.], mSn-de-vil. 
Manteo [I.], niahn-le-o. 
Manuel [P.], mahii-oo-al. 
Markham [E.], mahrk-ani. 
Marlborough [E], mahrl-brii. 
Massasoit [I.], nias-sfts-O-It. 
Mather [E.], mftthe-er. 
Matoaka [I.], mat-o-ak-a. 
Matthews [E.], niath-tiz. 
Maurepas [F.], mo-re-pah. 
Maximilian [G.], niax-I-mil-yiln. 
McCulloiigb [E.], mak-Hnl-lo. 
Mcintosh [E.], mdk-In-tosh. 
Meacluini [E ], me-cham. 
Meigs [E.], niegz. 

Meta Incognita [L.], me-ta in-cog-ni-tS. 
Miantonomidi [I.], mi-an-tO-no niO. 
Micanopy [I.], ml-kan-o-pi. 
Minuit [G.], min-oo-it. 
Mobfgan [I.], nio-he-gan. 
Moiicktori [E.], niuuk-tun. 
Monk [E.], muiik. 



770 



PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES. 



Montcalm [F.], moiit-Ualinn. 

Monteano [S.], iiioii-ta ahii-O. 

Montezuma [I.], iiion-te-y-oo-ina. 

Montmoreiici [F.], mont-niO-ren-si. 

Mosley [E.], mos-le. 

Moultrie [E.], niOl-tri. 

Naii-ne [E.], iiftm. 

Nassau [F.], nils-so. 

Naumkoag [I.], nawm-ke-ftg. 

Nipmiicks [I.], iiip-muks. 

Nueces [S.], iiwa-ses. 

Ocklawalia [I.], dk-la-\vah-liah. 

Odeneal [E.], o-ileii-el. 

Osletlioipe [E.], 6-gel-tli6rp. 

O'Haia [E.], o-hahr-ia. 

OJeda [S.], 0-lia-<ia. 

Okeechobee [I.], 0-ke-cho-be. 

Oklham [E.], old am. 

Olustee [E.], 0-lOs-te. 

Opecaiican(iUf,'li [I.], 0-pe-k4n-kan-6. 

Oiapax [1.], 6r-a pakx. 

Oweola [I.], 6s-se-o-la. 

Oswald [E.]. os-ivawKl. 

Ouataiioii [1.], walit-a-noii. 

Oxenstiern [Sw.], oks-en-stern. 

Pampliilo lie Narvaez ^S.], pahm-fe-lo ila 

nahv-*ah-etli. 
Pascua Florida [L.], pahs-koo-il flor i da. 
Pauw [(t.], paw. 

Pedro Meuendez [S.], pa-drO n>a-l6u-deth. 
Peinaquid [I.], p6m-a-kwid. 
Pepperell [E.], pepper-el. 
Peouod [I.], pe-kw6d. 
Perole [8.], pa-rote. 
Pigot [E.], pig-6t. 
Pinta [S.], peii-ta. 
Pitcaini [E.], pit-karn. 
Pizarro [S.]. pe-thahr-rO. 
Pocahontas [I.], p6k-a-h6ii-tas. 
Poictiers [F.], pwah-te-ft. 
Point au 'l'reiiil>les[F.], pwan to Iratambl. 
Pontciiartrai" [F.], pon-sliahr-tran. 
Pontrincourt [F.], poo-traii-koor. 
Powhatan [I.], pow-hat-aii. 
Presque Isle [F.]. pre.sk el. 
Previist [F^], prev-ost. 
Prideanx \V.\ pre-do. 
Pulaski [Pol], poo-lahs-kT. 
Qiiantrell [E.], kwahn-trel. 
Qiieretaro [S.], k.a-ra-tah-rO. 
Rahl [G.], rahl. 
Keleigh [E.J, raw-li. 
Ratclitte [E.], rSt-klif. 
Rawdon [E.], raw-dun. 
Kavmbault [F.], ram-bo. 
Revere [E. ], re-ver. 
Riall [F:.], rl-al. 
Kiliault [F ], re-bo. 
Roberval [F.}, rOb-er-vahl. 
Rochambeau [F.], rO-sham-bS. 
Rocbelle [F.], rO-shel. 

Roderigo Triana [S.], rOd-re-go Ire-ah-na. 
Kosecrans [t>.], ros-e krahns. 



Rvswick [G.], rps-wik. ^ 

Sallillo [.S.], sahl-te|yo. 

Sainosset [1.], sftni-O-set. 

Santa Maria [S.], sahn-ti mah-re-i. 

Sass:icus [i.], sfts-sak-iis. 

Sayle [E.], sal. 

Scbuyler [E-], ski-ler. 

Selisb [I.], se-lish. 

Seminoles [1.], sem-i-r.Olz. 

Sheati'e [G.J, shftf-te. 

Sboshonees [I.], shC-sho-nfiz. 

Sicklemore [E], sik-el-mOr. 

Sloughter [E.], slo-ter. 

Squanto [I.], >,kwahii-tO. 

St. Croix [F.J, saiit-ltroi. 

Steuben [G.J, stu-ben. 

Stirling [E.J, stur-ling. 

St. Leger [F.J, sftn la-zha. 

Sliiughton [E.J, sto-tun. 

St. Pierre [F".J, san pe-ar. 

Stnyvesant [G.J, sti-ves ant. 

Subercase [F-J, se-ber-kahs. 

Talladega [I.J, tiihl-la-de-ga. 

Tamaulipas [S.J, labm-aw-le-piis. 

Tanacbarisson [L.J, tan-a-kflr-is-sun. 

Teciimtha [I. J, tekum-tha. 

Theresa [G.J, ter-ts-a. 

Thortiiin Karlsefne [N.], tor-fin kalirt> 

set-ne- 
Thorstein Erickson [N.J, tor-.stIn gr-ik-siiii. 
Tituba [I.J, ti-too-ba. 
Tohopeka [I.J, lo-lio-pe-ka. 
Tomo-Chiclii [I.J, to-ii]o-clic-clii. 
Van Ren.sselaer [E.J, van rf ns-se-lahr. 
Van Twiller [G.J, van twel-ler. 
Vasco de Gaina [P.J, valis-ko da {;ah-m3 
Vasco Nunez de Balboa [S- J, vahs-kOnoon 

yeth da babi bo-a. 
Vaudreuil [F.J, vo-drii-el. 
Vaughan [E.J, vawii. 
Vergennes [F.J, ver-zheii. 
Verhulsl [ti.J, var hoolst. 
Verrazzani [It. J, ver-rat-tsah-ne. 
Wainnian [E.J, wan-man. 
Walloons [G,J, walil-loonz. 
Wampanoags [I.J, wabm-pan-o-agz. 
Warwick [E.J. wahr-rick. 
Wavmoulli [E.J, wa-muth. 
Weide [E.J. w«-l-de. 
Weitzel [ti.J, wit-zel. 
Wballey [E.J,_ hwahl-li. 
Whinyates [E.J, liwin-yats 
Whitetield [E.J, hwit-feld 
Wingina [I.J, win-ge-na. 
Worcester [E.J, woos-tfer 
Wonter [*».J, woo-ter. 
Xeres [S.J, ha-retli. 
Yamacraws [1], yahm-'.-W'av*, 
YeamaBS [E.J, ye-nianz. 
Yeardley [FIJ, yurd-li. 
Youghiogbeny [I.J, y6b-li3-gC-nI. 
Ynset [MoorisbJ, .Too-seJ'. 
Zenger [(i-J, zen-ger. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



ABENAKIS, THE, 

War with, 148, l.'i4. 
ABERCROMBIE. GENERAL, 

Expedition uf against Ticonderoga, 271. 
ACADIA, 

Name of. 75 ; ruin of, 261-264. 
ADAMS, JOHN, 

Predicts American hnifju'inicnre, isn ; nom- 
inates Wasiifcffton f"i t,'rticriil-in-(tiief, 301 ; 

member of t-onimiMee lo diuft I)Hclaration, 

309; coiiuiiis.sinner to Paris, 354; Vice-Presi- 
dent, 362; ski'tcii of. 372; administration of, 

372-376; deutli of. 4-J4. 
ADAMS, John Qiincy, 

Secretary of State, 417; elected President. 423 ; 

sketcli of. 423; administration of, 423-426; 

deatii of. 461. 
ADAMS, Samuel, 

Speaks out for liberty, 295. 
ADET, M., 

Evil influence of in United Stales, 373. 
ADOLPHUS. GUSTAVUS, 

Plans an American colony, 164. 
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, 

Treaty of, 158. 
ALABAMA, 

Admission of. 420. 
ALABAMA. THE, 

Career of, 53;J. 
ALABAMA CLAIMS, THE, 

Settlement of, 556. 
ALASKA, 

Purchase of, 547. 
ALGIEnS, 

Tribute paid to, 370 ; brought to term.s, 416. 
ALGONyuINS, The, 

Territorial position of, 42 and Map I. 
ALLE.V, Ethan, 

E,\pedition of against Ticonderoga, 298. 
AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION, 

Notice of. 361 ; passage of Fourteenth and Fif- 
teenth, 553. 
AMES, Fisher, 

Letter of. 701. 
AMHERST, GENERAL, 

Commander-in-chief in America, 273. 
AMIDAS, Philip, 

Voyage of, 81. 
AMNESTY PROCLAMATION, THE, 

Account ()f, .^44. 
ANDERStJN. 1!(.I)ERT. 

At Foit siiiiiter. 484. 
ANDRE, JOHN, 

Connection of with Arnold's treason, 344 ; ex- 
ecution of, .345. 
ANDROS, Sir Edmcnd, 

Career of in America, 123, 146, 147. 174. 191, 197, 

SOO. 207. 
ANTIETAM. 

Battle of. .506. 
ANTI-FEDERALIST PARTY, THE, 

Rise of. 3.59. 
ARCHDALE, JOHN, 

Governor of South Carolina. 234. 
ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS, 

Account of. 4ii7. 
ARGALL. Samuel, 

Expeditions of, 108, 109. 
ARKANSAS. 

Organization of, 420 ; aduiission of, 435. 
771 



ARMADA, The INVINCIBLE, 
Mentioned, 83. 

ARNOLD, Benedict, 

At Ticonderoga, 299; at Quebec, 303 ; heroism 
of at Saratoga, 323; treason of. 343; in Vir- 
ginia, .346. 

ARREARS OF PENSIONS ACT, 
Account of, 6&4. 

ARTHUR, CHESTER A., 

Vice-President, ii43 ; becomes President, 652; 
administration of, 602-671. 

ATLANTA, 

Capture of. 526. 



BACON, Nathaniel, 

Rebellion of. 120. 
BALBOA, 

Discovery of the PaciDc by, 57. 
BALTIMORE, 

Siege of, 410 ; attack on Union soldiers in, 486. 
BALTIMORE. The Lords. 

Colonize Maryland. 217. 
BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Organization of, 366 ; expiration of charter of, 

415 ; re-chartering of vetoed by Jackson, 427 ; 

new charter of vetoed by Tyler,'44l. 
BANKS, N. P.. 

In West Virginia, 502 ; in command of the Red 

River expedition, 524. 
BARCLAY, ROBERT, 

Governor of New Jersey, 207. 
BARLdW. ARTHUR, 

Voviige of, 81. 
BA.XTER. (;KoIUiE. 

Bearer of charter of Rhode Island, 107. 
BAYARD, Thomas F., 

Secretary of State. 673. 
BEECHER. Henry Ward, 

Notice and death of, 681. 

BELL, PROFESSOR A. G.. 

Inventttr of telephone, 625. 
BELLOMONT. EARL OF. 

Governor of New York, 179. 
BENNINGTON. 

Battle of. 322. 
BENTON. Thomas H.. 

Prnciiies tlic expunging of resolutions of cen- 
sure against Jackson. 4;32. 
BERKELEY, SIR William, 

Governor of Virginia. 116; vengeance of, 121 ; 

proprietor of New Jersey, 203. 
BLACK FRIDAY, 

Story of, .5.53. 
BLACK HAWK WAR, THE, 

Account of, 429. - 

BLAINE, James G., 

Candidate for the presidency, 669 ; Secretary of 

State, 648; a second time, 697. 
BLOCKADE. 

The Question of in Europe, 384, 385. 
BOBADILLA, 

Mentirmed, 56. 
BONAPARTE. NAPOLEON, 

Policy of toward the United States, .374 ; sells; 

Louisiana, 378 ; measures of against Great 

Britain, 38:^ ; issues Milan Decree. -386 ; in- 
vasion of Russia by. 393. 
BONAPARTE, LOUIS Napoleon, 

Intrigue of respectitjg Mexico, 545. 



TTj! 



BLSTOBY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BOONE, Daniel, 

t^olonizes Keutucky, 3B7. 

BOOTH, John Wilkks. 

Assassination of Lincoln by, 543. 

B( ISTON, 

Fininded. 13^'; ciccupled by che British army, 
203 : massacre at. 2a3 ; sleRe of, 2a8-307 ; evac- 
uation of, 307 ; great Are in, 568. 

BOURNE, SYLVESTER, 

Meiuioneil, T't3. 
BRADD(XK, Edward, 

Campaign of, 338-261 ; death of, 3U1. 
BRADFORD, WILLIAM, 

Governor of Massachusetts, 134. 

BRACti, BRAXTON. 

At Murfreeshorough, 500 ; at Chlckamauga, 514 ; 
at Loolvout and Missionary Ridge, 514, 515. 
BRANDYWINE, 
Battlf of, 3-J4. 

BRE('K1NRIDi;e. John C, 

Vicc-l'ii'sidiMit, 474 ; in commaDd In the Shen- 
andoah Vall.v. .5.30. 

BROOKLYN HRlIlliE, THE, 
BulldlMi; ..f. Iii;i-Uti3. 

BROOKS. .loHN A., 

CandidaU' for the Vice-Presidency, 694. 

BROWN. John, 

Insurrection led by, 478. 

BRYANT, WILLIAM CtlLLEN, 

Death of, 639. 
BUCHANAN, JAMES, 

Part of in Ostend Manifesto, 473: President, 

474: sketch of, 474 : administration of, 474-183. 
BUENA VISTA. 

Battle of, 453. 
BULL RUN, 

Battle of, 491 : second battle of. 505. 
BUNKER HILL, 

FortiBcation of by Americans, 399 ; battle of, 

.300. 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT, THE, 

History of, 44;i, 
BURGESSES. HOfSE OF, 

Estal>lislin]cnt of, 110; scene In, 389. 

BURtiOVNE. GENERAL, 

Invasion of, 331: at Bemis's Heights, -33:5; 

capitulation of, 331. 
BURNSIDE, AMBROSE E., 

In command of army, .509; at Fredericksburg. 

509; death of. 678. 
BURR, AARON, 

Elected Vice-President, 376; kills Hamilton, 

.■!83 ; conspiracy of, .38.3. 
BUTLER, B. F., 

At New Orleans, 498 : at Fort Fisher, 6.33 ; at 

Bermuda Hundred, 5:36. 



CABINET, THE, 

Organization of, 364. 

CABLE, THE ATLANTIC, 

Laying of. 476, .545. 
CABOT, John, 

Vovage of, 76. 
OABot, Seba.stia.n, 

Vcivage and explorations of, 77. 
CALHOUN, JOHNC, 

In Congress, 391 ; secretary of war, 417 : Vice- 
President, 433 ; as a nullifler. 439 ; death of, 

467. 
CALIFORNIA, 

Discovery of gold In, 459 ; organization of, 4(3 ; 

admissiifn of, 464. 
CALIFORNIANS. THE, 

Ten itnrial position of, 44 ami Map 1. 
CALVERT. SIR GeoRUE, 

Sketch of, 317. 
CALVERT, SIR CECIL, 

Colonizes Maryland, 318, 



CAMDEN, 

Battle of, 341. 
CANADIAN INSURRECTION, THE. 

Account of, 438. 
CANONCHET, 

Notice of, 141 ; execution of, 14.3. 
CANONICUS, 

Notice of, 139. 
CAPE BRETON, 

Conquest of. 157, 158. 
CARTERET, SIR GEORtiE, 

Proprietor of New Jersey, 303. 
CARTIEU, James, 

Vovage of, 71. 
CARVER, John, 

Leader of the Pilgrims, 91 ; death of, 13;i. 
CENSUS, 

Of 1790and 1800, 375 ; of 1810, 390; of 1840, 439; 

of 1870. 5.55; of 1880, 646. 
CENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, 

Account of, 6!>7-733. 
CENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 

Acc'iunt of, .'i63-G:J1. 
CERHO (iliKllo. 

Hiittl.- i.f. !.->.-,. 
CHA.MI'E. seki^eant John, 

Atti-iu|ii of to capture Arnold, 346. 
CHAMPION HILLS, 

Battle of. 513. 
CHAMPLAIN, Samuel, 

Career of in America, 75, 76. 
CHANCELLORSVILLE, 

Battle of, ^.18. 
CHAPULTEPEC, 

Battle of, 4X. 
CHARLES I., 

Relations of with American colonies. See 

ilaniachusetts and Virginia. 
CHARLES II., 

Relations of with American colonies. See 

M(i.-<.-<nt'hu^ett.i and Virginia. 
CHARLESTON, 

Founding of, 331 : taken by the British, 340; 

evacuation of, 351 ; siege of, 518 ; capture of, 

539 ; earthquake of, 688. 
CHARTER OF NEW ENtiLAND, 

Account of, 136. 
CHARTER OAK, THE, 

.Story of, 147, 191. 
CHASE, Salmon P., 

Secretary of the treasury, 4&4: presides at th" 

impeachment trial of Johnson, 551 ; death of, 

.563. 
CHEROKEES, THE. 

Territorial position of, 43 and. Map I.; war 

with. 276 : difflciilties n1th, 430. 
CHESAPEAKE, BAY OE, 

Exploration of by John Smith, 103, 
CHESAPEAKE, THE, 

A (fair of. .385. 
CHICAGO. 

Burning of, 5.57. 
CHICKAMAUGA, 

Hattleof. 514. 
CHICIIRA. 

I lid name of Carolina, 62. 
CHINESE EMBASSY, 

Establishment of at Washington, 639. 
CHIPPEWA. 

Battle of, 407. 
CHCRIIirsco, 

Battle of. 4.M',. 
CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, THE. 

Pa.ssageot. .-.48. 
CIVIL WAR. THE. 

Causi-s of, 486-189 ; history of, 490-S4O, 
CITIZENSHIP. 

English views of, .384. 
CLARKE, John. 

(MIonizes Rhode Island, 194 ; services of, 196 
CLARKE. William. 

Exploring expedition of, 382. 



INDEX. 



773 



CLAYBORNE, William. 

Career of in Marviand, 216-223. 

CLAY, HKNRY, 

In Congress, 391 ; Influence of, 421 ; se- 
cures passage of Omnibus Bill, 465 ; deatb of, 
468. 
CLEVELAND, CtROVER, 

Elected President, 669 sketch of, 672 ; admin- 
istration of, 672-695; renominated for the 
presidency, 693. 
CLINTON. GKORGK, 

Vice-I'resident, 382. 
CLINTON, Sir Henry, 

Attenipt of to save Burgoyne, 323 ; commander- 
in-chief of British army, 330. 
CODDINCTOX, William, 

Sets up Israel in Rhode Island, 195. 
COLFAX, SimvLER, 

Vice-President, 551. 
COLIGNI, 

Mentioned, 73. 
COLLEGES, 

Number and Character of before Revolution, 
282. 
COLONIES, The American, 

Reflections on character of, 245 ; number and 
extent of, 280 ; population of , 280 : tendency 
toward unity, 2S0 ; edui-ation in. 282; printing 
and boolcs in. 2s2; post -offlci-s and roads in, 
283; industries nf.L'Kl; u-diTli>ins on.284; dis- 
pute of with Eiiglaud, 2s:i-:;i(t,; independence 
of, 309, aw. 
COLONIZATION SOCIETY, THE, 

Organization of, 416. 
COLORADO, 

Admission of, 561. 
COLUMBIA, District OF. 

Organization of. 416. 
COLUMBUS, Christopher, 

Sketch of, 55; discovery of America by, 55; 
misfortunes of, 66. 
COMANCHES, THE, 

Terril^>rial position of, 44 and Map I. 
CONCORD, 

Founding of, 130; battle of, 298. 
CONFEDERATION, The, 

History of, :i56-358; Articles of. Appendix E. 
CONGRESS, THE First COLO.NIAL, 

Meeting of. 291. 
CONtiRKSS liFTHE REVOLUTION, 

Asseriihlingiif. 296. 
CONKLlNti. ItoSCOE, 685. 
CONNECTICUT. 

(oloiiization of, 130; history of, 184-192. 
CONSTITUTII IN OF THE UNITED STATES, 

Analysis of, .■i60; adoption of by the States, 361 ; 
Texliif. Aiiiiiiidix F. 
CONSTITUTION. THE, 

Affair of, 397. 
COOPER, Sir Ashley, 

Proprietor of Carolina, 225. 
CORDOVA, 

Explorations of, 58. 
CORINTH, 

Battle of, 499. 
CORNBURY, Lord, 

Governor of New York, 179. 
CORNWAI.I.IS, Lord, 

Pursiiis Wiishington across New Jersey. 314 ; 
considers tlie war ended, 315; returns to ihe 
work, 317 ; at Princeton, 318; at Brandy wine, 
325; in Carolina, 874 ; in Virginia, 3.52; surren- 
der of, 3.53. 
CORTEREAL, GaSPAR, 

Voyages of. 69. 
CORTEZ, Fernando, 

Conquest of Mexico by. 58-61. 
COTTON GIN, THE, 

As a factor of the Civil War, 487. 
CRANFIELD. Edward, 

(toveriior of New Hampshire, 145 ; career of in 
the province, 2tlO. 



CREDIT MOBILIER, THE, 

Uproar concerning, 560. 
CREEKS, The, 

War with, 40:j ; difflculties with, 434. 
CROMWELL, Oliver, 

Relations of with Virginia, 115-118; favors 

New England, 135. 
CROWN POINT, 

Expediton of Johnson against, 265. 
CUBA, 

Difficulties concerning, 466. 



ID 

DAKOTAS, THE. 

Territorial position of, 43 anil yUtp I. 
DALE, Sir Thomas, 

Governor of Virginia, 107. 
DARE, Virginia, 

Birth mentioned, 83, 
DARRAH, LVDIA, 

Story of, 327. 
DAVIS, Jefferson, 

President of the Confederacy, 481 ; sketch of, 

492; flight of, 538 ; capture arid trial of, 540. 
DAYE, Stephen, 

First printer in America, 133. 
DEARBORN, HENRY, 

Commander-in-Chief of American army, 393. 
DE AYLLON, 

Discovery of Carolina by, 62. 

DECATUR. COMMODORE, 

In the Mediterranean, 415. 
DE GAMA, 

Circumnavigation of Africa by, 78. 
DE GOURGES, 

Settles with the Spaniards, 74. 
DE KALB, Baron, 

Fights for Liberty, 320; killed, :j42. 
DELAWARE, 

Colonization of, 165 ; secession of from Penn- 
sylvania, 213. 
DE LEON, PONCE, 

Discovery of Florida by, 57. 
DEMAGdGUES. 

InflUHiicc "(. 189. 
DEMOCRATIC PARTY. THE, 

Comes into power, 376 ; notice of, 428. 
DE MONTS, 

In America, 75. 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 

Instituted, 695. 
DEPENDE.NT PENSION BILL, 

Account of, 684. 
DEPEW, CHAl'NCEY M., 

Delivers centennial oration, 717. 

DE S( )T( 1, FERDINAND, 

Explorations, 64-67; discovery of Mississippi, 65; 
DETROIT. 

Capture of by the British, 395. 
DONIPHAN. Colonel, 

Campaign of, 4.^3. 
DORR INSURRECTION, THE, 

Account of, 442. 
DOUffLAS, Stephen A., 

Favors popular sovereignty, 472. 
DRAFT, THE, 

( irdered by Congress, 522. 
DRAKE, Sir Francis, 

Career of. 80; carries otT Raleigh's colony, 82. 
DRED SCOTT DECISION, THE, 

History of, 474. 

EAST INDIA COMPANY, THE DUTCH, 
Mentioned, 92. 

EDISON. Thomas a.. 

Inventor of telephone, phonograph, and elec- 
tric light, 655, 656, 659. 



774 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



EDUCATION. 

Favored by tbe Puritans. 159 ; character and 

extent of in the colonies. ^2; necessary to 

perpetuity of American institutions, 643. 
ELEl'TKir LIGHT, THE, 

lutroduclion '4, U5T-6t)0. 
ELIZABETH, (Jl'EE.N, 

Death of, 84. 
EMANOIP.iTION PROCLAMATION, THE, 

Issued by Lincoln, 511 ; text of. Appendix II. 
EMBAKGOAOT, THE, 

Pa.-isas'e of, 385 ; ridicule of, .386. 
ERIl'KSON, Life, 

Disi'overv of America by, 5L 
ERIl'KSON, Thorwald and Thorstein, 

Mentioned. 51, 52. 
ERICSSON. JoHX. 

Invention of Monitor bv, 497. 
ESPEtiO, 

Founder of Santa Fe, 63. 
ESQUIMAUX, THE, 

Territorial position of, 43 and Jfiip I. 
EUTAW SPRIN(iS, 

Battle of, 351. 



FAIR OAKS, 

Battle of. .503. 
FAIIRAUUT, Admiral, 

On the Mississippi, 498 ; capture of Mobile by, 

.531. 
FEDERALIST PARTY, THE, 

Rise of, 3.59 ; overthrow of. 375. 
FENDALL, JoSIAS, 

(iovernorof Maryland, 833. 
FIELD, CVKl-s W., 

LavitiL' of Atlantic cable bv, 476, .545. 
FILLMORE. Millard. 

Vice-Piesidi-ut, 463 ; became President, 465; 

wise measures recommended by, 466. 
FINANCIAL CRISIS, 

Of 1819, 419; of ia37, 4.37; of 1873, 560. 
FISK, Clinton b.. 

Candidate for the Presidency, 694. 
FIVE FORKS, 

Battle of, 5;J8 
FLETCHER, BEN.IAMIX, 

Oovernor of New York, 178. 
FLORIDA, 

('oloMization of, 68 ; cession of, 419. 
FORREST, N. B.. 

Raid of throug^h Tennessee and Kentucky, 

53:i. 
FORT DONELSON, 

Capture of. 496. 
FORT 1)1' m^ESNE. See Fort Pitt. 
FORT FISHER, 

<.'apture (if, 533. 
FORT JACKSON, 

Capture of. 498. 
FORT LE BfEUF, 

Affairs at, 3.53. 

FORT Mchenry, 

Defense of. 411. 
FORT MEIOS. 

Siece of, 401. 
FORI" MIFFLIN. 

Defense iif, 336. 

FORT Moultrie. 

Attack on, 307. 
FORT ORANGE (NASSAU), 

Building of, 94, 163. 
FORT NASSAU. 

Built, 30.3, 
FORT NECESSITY, 

Built and defended bv WashiURton, 355, 3.56. 
FORT PITT, 

Built, 254; captured by French, 254; retaken, 

372. 



FORTS, 

A list of at the beginning of the War of 1812, 

396. 
FCIRT ST. PHILIP, 

Capture of, 498. 
FORT SUMTER. 

Bombardment of. 484. \ 

FORT WILLIAM HENRY, ^ 

Sieffe of, 369. 
FRANCE, 

Possessions of in America, 370 : incites the col- 
onies, 385; alliance "ith, 338-,330 ; difficulties 

with, 373. 
FRANKLIN, Benjami.v, 

Plans Union for America, 257; editor of New 

Euf^Iaiid r<iurant, 383; favors liberty, 289 ; at 

the .-..1111 of Louis XVL, 339 ; sketch of, 329. 
FREDERICKSBURG, 

Battle of. .509. 
FREE TRADE, 

Dotarine of. Explained, 663-664. 
FREMONT, JOHN C. 

Explorations of, 453. 
FRENCH, THE, 

Explorations of in America, 70-76; 348,249; 

trading-posts of, 349 ; claim the Ohio Valley, 

i.A. 
FROBISHER, MARTIN, 

Voyat^es of, 79. 
FROLIC, THE, 

Affair of, .397. 
FULTON, Robert, 

Invents steam-boat and torpedo, 386, ;i87. 



GADSDEN PURCHASE, THE, 476. 

GAGE. (iEXERAL. 

Occupies Boston, 393 ; career of, 297-301. 
GARFIELD. JAMES A., 

Elected President. 643 ; sketch of, 647 ; admin- 
istration of, 647-649; assassination and death 

of, 650, 651. 
GATES, HORATIO, 

In command of the Army of the North, 323 ; iu 

the cabal aeainst Washington, 328. 
GATES, SIR THOMAS, 

liovernoi of Virginia, 106. 
GENET, Citizen, 

Career of in the United States, 368. 
GEORGE III., 

Character of, 286. 
GEORtilA, 

colonization of, 2:J8 ; history of, 3:W-246. 
GERRY, ELBRiriGE. 

Embassy of to France, -373; Vice-President, 399. 
(iETTYSBURG. 

Battle of, .520. 
GHENT, 

Treaty of, 414. 
GILBERT, Sir HCMPHREV, 

Career of. .so. 
GIST, Christopher, 

E.\peditiou of to the Ohio, 251. 

(iOLO, 

Discovery of in California, 459. 

GOKtiES. FERDINAND. 

Proprietor of New Hampshire, 198. 
GOSNOLI). Bartholomew, 

New route of lo ,\merica, 84. 
GOVERNMENT OF UNITED STATES, 

Account of inslitution of, 356-:j64 ; 701-709, 
(iRANT, ILY.SSESS.. 

At Doiiel-on, 496 ; at Pittsburg Landing, 497 ■- 

at Vicksburg, 512; commander-in-chief, .535; 

In the Wilderness. 535 ; besieges Petersburg, 

.5;i6 ; in (lursuit of Lee, 5.38-540 ; President, 551; 

sketch of, .5.52 : admlnlstratioa of, 552-6;i3 ; tour 

of, 645. 



INDEX. 



775 



GRAY, ELISHiP., 

Inventor ot telephooe, 655. 

GREAT BRITAIN, 

Colonizes America, 76-91, 95-345; grants of ter- 
ritory by, see Map III : extent of possessions 
(16.55), see Map IV; opprec3:3 the colonies, 
285-896 ; treaty v,1th, 354 : troubles with, 369 ; 
doctrine of respectln;; notilrals, 384. 

GREELEY, Horace, 
Notice of, 558. 

GREENE, Nathaniel, 

Saves the army at Brandy wine, 325 ; splendid 
campaigns ot in the Carolinas, 347-351. 

GRENVILLE, SIR RICHARD, 

In command ot Raleigh's fleet, 82. 

GRIJALVA, 

Explorations of, 58. 

GUERRIERE, THE, 
Affair of, 3!)7. 

GUILFORD (,'OURT-HOtISE, 
Battle ot, 349. 



HOWE (tFNERAL 

In "command 'at Boston, -305; nogotlates with 

Washington, 310 ; sends a fleet up the Hudson, 

318. 
HUDSON, Sir Henry, 

Efforts to reach the Indies, 92; explorations in 

America, 92; death of, 94 ; character of, 160. 
HUGUENOTS, THE, 

Mentioned, 67; in Florida, 67; destruction of, 

68 ; persecution ot in France, 232. 
HULL, William, 

Disastrous campaign of, .394. 
HUMBOLDT, 

Cited, .54. 
HURON-lKiiQriilS, The, 

Terriinrial position ot, 43 and Map I. 
HUTCHlNSdN, An.ne, 

Heresy ot, 131 ; an exile to Rhode Island, 132 ; 

death of, 16B. 



HALF-MOON, THE, 
Voyages of, 92-94. 

HALIFAX FISHERY AWARD, 
Historv of, 638, 639. 

HAMILTON, AI.KXAMIER, 

Builder of Koit Washington, 314; defender of 
the Constitution, 3t)0 ; sec'y of the treasury, 364; 
first major-gen. of the army, 373; killed by 
Burr, 383. 

HANCOCK, WiNFiELDS., 
Notice and death of, 678. 

UARMAR, General, 
Expedition of, 366. 

HARPER'S FERRY, 

Destriieticm of arsenal at, 485. 

HARRISON, benjamin. 

Elected President, 694 ; sketch of, 696-697 ; ad- 
ministration of, 696 ; at cenlenaial celebration, 
711-715. 

HARBISON, WILLIAM HENRY, 

Governor of Indiana, 390 ; at Tippecanoe, .391 ; 

In command in the West, 400 ; President, 439 ; 

sketch of, 440; administration of, 440 ; death of, 

441. 
HARTFORD CONVENTION, 412. 
HARVARD COLLEGE, 1.32. 
HAYES, ROTHERFORD B., „ „ , 

Elected President, 632 ; sketch of, 633 ; admin- 
istration of, 64:J-646. 

HAYNE, Senator, 

Debate of with Webster, 429. 

HAYTI, 

Claims recognition, 417. 

HENDRICKS, THOMAS A., 

Elected Vice-President, 669; death of, 6,8. 

HENRY, Patrick, 

Makes some remarks in the House of Burgesses, 
289; leads the people, 303; opposes the Consti- 
tution, 362. 

HERJULFSON, 
Mentioned, 51. 

HESSIANS, THE, ^ _ 

Hired to flght America, 308 ; overpowered at 
Trenton, 316. 

HOBKIBK'SHILL, 
Battle of, 350. 

HOOD, J. B., ,..,,, 

Driven from Atlanta, 526 : defeated at Nash- 
ville, 527. 

HOOKER, JOSEPH, 

At Lookout Mountain, 515 ; in command of the 
Army of the Potomac, 518; at Chancellorsville, 
518 ; death of, 678. 

HORNET, The, 

Affair of, 405. 

HOUSTON, SAM, 

Sketch of, 477. 



ICELANDERS, THE, 

Discovery of America by, 51. 

ILLINOIS, 

Organization and admission of, 420. 

IMPORTATION ACT, THE, 
Passage of, 287. 

IMPRESSMENT, 

Kiglit of claimed by Great Britain, 393. 

INDEPENDENCE, 

Declaration of,;S09 and Api^endix D; achieve- 
ment of, 355 ; centennial of. 503-631 ; epoch ot 
discussed, 698-701. 

INDIANA. 

Organization ot, 378 ; admission of, 411). 

INDIANS, The, 

Name of, 41 ; origin ot, 41 ; ethnology of, 42; 
families ot, 42 ; characteristics of, 44, 45; family 
organization of, 45 ; civil government among, 
46 ; religion of, 46 ; arts of, 47 ; language of, 
47 : writing of, 48 ; personal appearance ot, 49; 
manners and customs of, 49. 

INDIAN TERRITORY, THE, 
Organization of, 430. 

INTERIOR, DEPARTMENT OF, 

EstilbHshlUfiit of, 462. 
INTERNAL IMl'ItoVEMENTS, 

Quesilnii .,f, lis. 
INTERNAL UKVENUE, THE, 

Account of, .541. 
INTERSTATE COMMERCE BILL, 

Account of, 685 686. 
IROQUOIS, THE, 

Territorial position of, 43 and Map I ; treaty 

with, 175. 
IRVING, Washington, 

Relation of to American Literature, 477. 
ISABELLA, 

Favor ot to Columbus, 55. 



JACKSON, ANDREW, „ , ..no , KT.>,„ 

In command against the Creeks, 403; at New 
Orleans 412; against the Seminoles, 419; elected 
President, 426 ; sketch of, 426 ; administratioa 
of 426-4:36 ; censured by Congress, 432 ; Fare- 
well Address of, 435; death ot, 461. 

JACKSON, STONEWALL, „..,,, 

At Cedar Mountain, 505 ; at Fredericksburg, 

509 ; at Chancellorsville, 518 ; death of, 518. 
JAMES II., , , „ „ 

Relations of with American coloniea. See 

ilffflssochusftts and Virginia. 
JAMESTOWN, , 

Founding of, 87; affairs at, 95-113. 
JAPAN, . ^ ,„. 

Opening of intercourse with, 4,0. 



776 



HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



JAVA. THE. 

Affair of, 397. 

JAY COOKE AND COMPANY, 
Failure of, 560. 

JAY, John. 

Dcfemls th*^ Ci'Dsiitulion, 359 ; appointed cbief- 
justice, .iiii : ne{rotiaU;s treaty, 369, 

JEFFKIisiiN, riioMAS, 

Author of tbe Declaration. 309 ; drafts ordi- 
nance for the North-western Territory, 3.59 ; 
opposes the Constitution. 302; Secretary of 
State, 364 ; Vice-President, 371 : elected Presi- 
dent, .376 ; sketch of, 376; administration of, 
376-388 ; death of, 4-i4. 

JESUITS, THE, 

Discoveries and explorations of, 348, 249. 

JOHNSON, ANDREW, 

Elected Vice-President. 441 ; becomes Presi- 
dent, 544; sketch of, 514; adiniuistration of. 
54t-.551 ; impeachment tif, 5.50. 

JOHNSTfiN, Joseph E., 

At Manassas, 491; wounded, 503; generalship 
of, Nil); surrender of, 5.30. 



KANSAS, 

Troubles in, 473. 
KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL, THE, 

Acc.Mint ..r. 473. 
KEAKNKV. I'llll.lP. 

Expcilitioiiuf toCaliforuid, 4.5i ; killed at Ctian- 

Iilly,.5(i6. 
KEARSARtiE, THE, 

DestruiHion of the Alabama by, 5.34. 
KENKSAW MOUNTAIN, 

Ball If of, 525. 
KENTCCKY, 

Colonization of, 367 ; admission of, .367. 
KIDD, William, 

Career of, 179. 
KIEFT, SIR WILLIAM, 

(ioverniir of New Netherland, 165. 
KILPATRICK, H. J., 

Fieht of with Hampton, 529. 
KLAMATIS, 

Teiritorial position of, 44 (i?ifi Man I. 
KOSSUTH, LoflS. 

Visit of to the United States, 467. 

KOSZTA. MARTI.V, 

Aflauof, 471. 



LABOR TROUBLES, 

Account of, 6:M-636; 679-683^. 

La FAYETTE, MARQUIS DR, 

(iives himself to the cause of liberty, 320 ; cam- 
paign of in Virginia, 352; visit of to America, 
42. 

LANE, RALPH, 

Governor of Raleigh, 83. 

La ROCHE, Marquis of. 
Plans a colony, 74. 

La SALLE, Robert de. 
Explorations of, 248. 

LAUDONNIERRE, 
In Florida, 74. 

LAWRENCE, CAPTAIN, 
Death of, 406. 

LEE, CHARLES, 

Conduct of as a general, 315; disobedience of 
at Monmouth, ■3;il ; dismissal of from service, 
.331. 
LEE, Richard Hexrt. 

Resoluti ns of Independence offered by, 309. 



LEE, ROBERT E., 

In W. Virginia, 490 ; commander-in-chief of 

the Confederates, 503; invades Maryland, 506; 

ill Aiiliciani, 50(i; at Fredericksburg, 509; at 

Cliancelhirsville, 518; invades Pennsylvania, 

519 ; at (jiettyshurg, 520 ; in the Wilderness, 

535; retreat of from Richmond, .5.38; surrender 

of. 540 ; death of, 562. 
LEISLER, Jacob. 

Leader of insurrection in New York, 176. 
LEOPARD. THE. 

Affair of. :i85. 
LEWIS. Captain. 

Exploring expedition of, 382. 
LEWISTOWN, 

Founding of, 163. 
LEXINIiTON, 

liatlleof, 2'.IS. 
LIFE-SAVlN(i SERVICE, 

Est.ihii>hmeni of, 640. 
LI.NCOL.N, Abraham. 

Elected President, 479; sketch of, 482; admin- 
istration of, 4H2-.54:^ ; issues Emancipation Proc- 
lamation, 511 ; re-elected, 541 ; assassioatioD 

of, 542 ; character of, 542, 543. 
LITTLE BELT, THE, 

Affair of. .391. 
LIVINOSTO.V, EDWARD. 

Agent to purcha.se Louisiana, 378. 
LOCKE, John, 

Prepares the Grand Model, 225. 
LOGAN, John A., 

N.iili'cand death of, 679. 
LON'I)ii.\ CdMPANY, 

Organization of, 85; grant to, H5a//(( Afd.p III ; 

charter of, 86 ; fleet sent to America by, 86. 
LONG ISLAND. 

Battle of. 311. 
LONIiSTREKT. GENERAL, 

See L" '.V rinitlKJiiins. 
LOIIKDIT MOUNTAIN, 

Storming of, 515. 
LOUDOUN. LORD, 

Career of in America, 267-270. 
LOUISBURG, 

Siege of, 157, 158. 
LOUISIANA, 

Purchase of, 378; boundary of, 378; discord 

in. 5,59. 
LUNDYS LANE, 

Battle of, 408, 

LVO.V. NATHANIEL. 

In Missouri, 492, 



ISA. 



MacIiiinoi'i;ii. Commodore, 

At IMatt>lMLrg, 409. 
MADISIIN. .lAM|.;s. 

Fuvnrs tlii-Cciiisiiiuticin, 362; elected President, 

.38K; sketch of, ;lns ; administration of, 388-416 ; 

unwarlike disposition of. 39J; death of, 435. 
MAtJELLAN, FERDINAND, 

Circumnavigation of globe by, 61. 
MAINE, 

Colonization of, 1.36; admission of, 421. 
MALIETOA, 

King of Samoa, 72^3, 724. 
MALVERN HILL, 

Battle.. f, .504. 
MANASSAS, 

Battle of, 491. 
MANDEVILLK, SIR JOHN, 

On the ngure of the earth, 54, and Appen- 

ilijr A. 
MANHATTAN ISLAND, 

Purcha,se of, 162. 
MARION, FRANCIS, 

Career of, .'Ml, :»2, .150. 



INDEX. 



777 



MARSHALL, JOHN, 

Embassy of to France, 373; m the chlef- 

justicesh'p, 379. 
MARYLAND. _^ , ,,„ „, 

(Colonization of, 216; history of, 31b-324. 
MASON, J. M., 

Erntiassador of the Confederacy, 494 ; capture 

of, 494; liberation of. 495. 
MASONIAN DIFFICULTIES, THK 

Concerning New Hampshire, 198-202. 
MATAAFA, 

Leader in Samoa, 723, i24, 
MATHER, COTTON, . . „, 

Responsible for witchcraft atrocities, 151- 

MAY CORNKLIUS, 

Governor of New Netherland, lt)2. 

MCCLELLAN, GKoRCiE B., , 

Campaign of in West Virginia, 490; m com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac. 494 ; penin- 
sular campaign of, 5(B-505; at Antietam, .506; 
superseded, .509; candidate for the presidency, 
541 ; death of. K7S. 

MEADE. liKOKciK (i., „ ^ , .^ 

At Fre<le[ iiksliurg, ."09 ; in command or the 
Army of the Potomac, 520; at Gettysburg, 
520; in the Wilderness, 535; death of, 563, 
678. 

MEIGS. COLONKL, 

Expliiit of at Sag Harbor, 319. 

MELENDKZ, PEDRO, 

Career of in Florida, 67. 

MERRIMAC, THE, 

Fight Of with the Monitor, 498. 

MIANTONOMOH, 

Relations of with Roger Williams, 194. 

MICHIGAN, . ,„, 

(irganization of, .382; admission of, 435. 

MILL SPRING, 
Battle of, 496. 

MINNESOTA, 

Admission of, 477. 

MINIUT, PETEU, 

Governor of New Netherland, 162. 
MISSIONARY RIDGE, 

Storming of, .^^16. 
MISSISSIPPI, , „„ 

Organization and admission of, 418. 
MISSOURI, ^ . . , .„, 

Organization of, 420; admission of, 421. 
MISSOURI COMPROMISE, THE, 

History of. 421. 
MOBILIANS. THE, 

Territorial position of, 43 aim Map I. 
MODOCS, THE, 

War with. 559. 
MONITOR, THE, 

Fight of with the Merrimac. 498. 
MONMOUTH. 

Battle of, 331. 
MONROE, James, „,^ , . . 

Agent to purchase Louisiana, 3.8; elected 

President, 416; sketch of, 416; administration 

of, 416-42:J ; death of, 435. 
MONROE DOCTRINE, THE, 

Proclamation of, 422, 
MONTANA, 

Admission of, 695. 
MONTEREY, 

Storming of, 451. 
MONTEZUMA, 

Account of, 58-61. 
MONTGOMERY, RICHARD, „„ j ,^ , 

f:xpedition of against Canada, .303; death of, 

:104 ; sket<:h of, 305. 
MONTREAL, , ^_ 

Name of, 72 ; expedition against, 1.5b. 
MORGAN, DANIEL, 

At Bemis's Heights, 323; at the Cowpens, 

.347. 
MORGAN, John, 

Raid of into Indiana and Ohio, 51,. 



MORGAN, WILLIAM, 

Disappearance of, 425. 
MORMONS. THE, 

Account of, 444 ; rebellion of, 475. 

MORRIS, ROBERT. , 

Devotes his fortune to liberty, 316 ; appointed 

secretary of finance, 346; brought to rain, 

.3.58. 
MORRIS, T. A., 

Campaign of in West Virginia, 490. 
MORSE, 8. F. B., 

Invention of telegraph by, 416. 
MORTON, Oliver P., 

Sketch of, 640; death of, 644. 
MOS( '( isi I. 

surccssur of De Soto, 06. 
MURFREESBOROUGH, 

Battle of, 600. 



osr 

NARVA EZ, PAMPHtLO DE, 

Army sent by to Mexico, 60; governor or 

Florida, 63. 
NASHVILLE, 

Siege of, .526. 
NATIONAL DEBT, THE, 

Extent of, .545. 
NEGRO PLOT, THE, 

In New York, 182. 
NEW AMSTERDAM, 

Founding of, 94 ; history of, 160-171. 
NEW ENGLAND, 

Colonization of, 91, 123, 184, 193, 198 ; education 

in, 282. 
NEW HAMPSHIRE, 

Colonization of, 198; history of, 198-202. 
NEW HAVEN, 

Founding of, 188. 
NEW JERSEY, 

Colonization of, 203; bisUiry of, 203-208; di- 
vision of, 205. 
NEW NETHERLAND, 

Name of, 94 ; history of, 160-171 ; conquest of, 

171. 
NEW ORLEANS, 

Battle of, 413. 

NEWPORT, CHRISTOPHER, 

Sent out by London Company, 86. 
NEW SWEDEN, 

History of. 165-169 ; extent of, Mav IV. 
NEW YORK. 

Colonization of, 160 ; history of, 160-183. 
NEW YORK CITY, 

Settlement of. 160; under the Dutch, IbO-lil; 

under the English, 171-183; British forces 

before, 310: captured by British, 313; evacu- 
ation of, 365; Centennial celebration at, 69i- 

723. 
NEZ PERCE INDIANS, THE, 

War with, K36. 
NICOLLS, RICHARD, 

Governor of New York, 173. 
NORSEMEN, THE, 

Diseoverv of America by, 61 ; character of, 52 , 

traies "f in Rhode Island, 195. 
NORTH CAROLINA, , „^ 

Colonizailon of, 224: history of, 224-229. 
NORTH DAKOTA, 

Admission . .1,695. 
, L RTHEASTERN BOUNDARY, 

Settlement of, 441. 
NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD, THE, 

Account of. 560. 
NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY, 

Organization of, 359 ; division of, 377. 
NULLIFICATION, „ 

Account of, 428; a cause of the Civil War, 

488. 



778 



BISTORT OF TEE UNITED STATES. 



O 

OGI-ETHOKPE, James, 

Sketcli of, S38; career of in Georffia, 239-244, 
OHIO, 

Organization and admission of, 378. 
OHIO COMPANY, THE, 

Grant to, 250. 
OMNIBUS BILL, THE, 

Hislorv "f, 4W. 
OPKCHANl'ANOUGH. 

Noti.-i-s of. 100, 113. 
ORDERS IN TdUNrlL. THE. 

Issui'fl, 'isi,; promised repeal of, -389. 
ORECidN lilHNDARV QUESTION, THE, 

SftUi-iiirnt ..f, 4.')8. 
()6TENU MANIFESTO, THE, 

History of, 472. 



PACIFIC RAILROAD, THE, 

Project of, 469 ; completion of, 553. 
PALO ALTO, 

Battle of, 4.50. 
PAPER MONEY, 

First nsed in America, 149. 
PAKRIS, Samuel, 

Responsible for witchcraft atrocities, 150-153. 
PATROONS, THE Dl-TCH, 

Colonize New Netberland, W3, 164. 
PAUL JONES, 

Great naval battle of, 338. 
PEACOCK, THE, 

Affair of, 405. 

PENN, WILLIAM, 

InNew Jersey, 205; proprietor of Pennsylvania, 

21)9 ; sketch of, 210 ; career of, 210-215. 
PENNSYLVANIA. 

(■i.lnnizalioodf, 209; hlstorv Of, 209-21.5. 
PENSION LE(asL.\TION. 

Account of, 6S4. 
PEPPEREL. SIR WILLIAM, 

Expedition of against Louislnire, 157. 
PEyroD.s, THE, 

War with, I85-18S. 
PERRY. OLIVER H., 

Vic-torv of on Lake Erie, 401. 
PETERSBURG, 

Sletre of, 5)6, .5.38. 
PHILADELPHIA, 

Foundinf? of, 212; oaptnre of bv the Brilisli, 

325. 
PHILIP, King of the Narragansetts, 

War with, 139-144. 
PHIPPS, Sir William, 

Connection of with Salem witchcraft, 151. 
PHONOGRAPH, THE, 

Invention of, 6.56, 6.57. 
PICKETT. General, 

Char^'e of at Gettysburg, .5tK, 

PIERCE, FRANKLIN, 

Elected President, 469; sketch of, 469; admin- 
istration of, 469-474. 
PILGRIMS, THE, 

See FnrUans. 
PINCKNEY, C. C, 

Embassy of to France, 373. 
PITT, William, 

Premier of England, 270; defends America, 

293. 
PITTSBURG LANDING, 

Battle of, 497. 
PLYMOUTH, 

Founding of, 91. 
PLYMOUTH COMPANY, The, 

Organization of, 85 ; grant to, 85 and Ma)) III, 
PLYMOUTH COUNCIL, THE, 

Organization of, 85 ; grant to, 88 ami Map III. 



POCAHONTAS. 

Storv of, 101-109. 
POLK, Jamks K., 

Elccicd President, 446; sketch of, 447 ; admin- 
istration of, 447-462. 
POLK, LEONIDAS, 

Campaign of in Kentucky, 493. 
PONTIAC. 

Conspiracy of, 277-279. 
POPE, John, 

Campaign of in Virginia, 505. 
PORT BILL, The Boston, 

Passage of, 295. 
PORTER, ADMIRAL, 

Bombards Vicksburg, 512 ; at Fort Fisher, 532. 
PORT ROYAL (ANNAPOLIS), 

Founded. 75; siege of, 155. 
PORTrtilESK. THE. 

ln>rn\.Mies of in .America, 69. 
POSTAL .MdNEYORDER SYSTEM, THE. 

Establishment of, 546. 
POWHATAN, 

Relations of with the colony at Jamestown, 

96-112. 
PREBLE, Commodore, 

In till' Mediterranean, 380. 

PRESCIITT, (iENKRAL, 

Captllivof. 320. 
PBESlllENT, THE, 

Affair of, 391. 
PRINCETON. 

Battle of, 31K. 
PRlNii, Martin, 

V..vayv..f, S4. 
PRINTING-PRESS, THE, 

In Cambridge, 132; work of In the colonies, 

282. 
PROHIBITION. 

An issue in politics, 694. 
PRDTECTIdN. 

Doctrine of explained, 663-067, 693. 
PULASKI, COINT, 

Honored for services at Brandy wine, 325. 
PURITANS, THE, 

Rise of, 88; at Leyden, 89; purposes of, 89; 

voyage of to America, 90; compact of, 91 aml- 

Apfwudtr B; colonization of MassachiiSetla 

bv, 91 ; character of, 159. 
PUTNAM, Israel, 

Exploit of, SU. 



Q 

QUAKERS, THE, 

Arrival of at Boston, 136 ; persecutions of, 136, 
137 ; in New Jersey, 206 ; colonization of Penn- 
sylvania by, 209-215. 

QUEBEC, 

Founding of, 76 ; expedition of Walker against, 
'" • capture of by Wolfe, 276; expedition of 



Arnold against, :W3. 



RAILROAOS. 

ExtiMit in the United States, 556. 
RAlLUllAl) STRIKE. THE, 

History 01,634-6-36. 
RALEIGH, Sir WALTER, 

Attempts to colonize America, 81 ; founds city 

of RaleiETh, 8:). 
RECl iNS'l'Rn TK IN OF SOUTHERN STATES 

DilllculDcs i-ciiii-iTiliog, 547, .549. .554. 
RED RlVEll EXPEDITION, THE, 

.Account of, 524. 
RESACA DE LA PALMA, 

Battle of, 450. 
RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS, 

History of, 637-641. 



INDEX. 



TT'J 



REVERE, PAOL, 

Ride iif. S'-IV. 
REVOLUTIDN, The, 

Causes of, -is.vsse: history of, 39T-356. 
RHIIIlK ISLAND, 

c:i)lnniz;iiiiiii of. 193; history of. 193-198; lib- 

ei:il instil utions of, 194; traces of Norsemen In, 

1>J5 ; domestic diOlculties iu, 448. 
RIBAULT, John, 

Voyages of, 73. 
RICHMOND, 

Capital of the Confederacy, 4a'>; evacuated, 

538. 
ROAMlKR ISL.\ND. 

Aiteiiii'I toc-.>lonize,81. 
R0BINSI1N..I..HV. 

Leader of the Pilgrims, 89 ; counsels of, 145. 
ROEBLING, J. A. ktiO W. A., 

Architects of Brooklyn Bridge, 661, 662. 
ROGERS, Major Robert, 

Expedition of, 37T. 
ROLFE, John. 

Account of, 108. 
ROSECEANS, W. S., 

At Murfreesborough, 500; at Chickamauga, 

514. 
ETSWICK. 

Treaty of, 150. 



SAG HARBOR, 

Capture of, 313. 
SALEIM, 

Founded, 136 ; witchcraft at, I50-1E.3. ' 
SAMOA. . 

Account of difficulties concerning, ia3-i24. 
SAMOSET, 

Visit of tip Plymouth. 133. 
SANDER'S (UF.EK, 

Battle of, 343. 
SANDYS, SIR EDWYN, 

Governor of Virginia, 111. 
SANTA ANNA, „ ^ ^.^ 

At Buena Vista. 453 ; at Cerro Gordo. 4o5 ; 

drives from Mexico, 467. 
SANTO DOMINGO. 

Project to annex, 555. 
SAVANNAH, ^„, . , 

Founding of, 3,39 ; conquest of, 33.J ; capture of 

by Sherman. .537. 
SAYLE, William, 

Governor of South Carolina, 2.30. 
SCHOFIELD, JOHN M., 

Commands centennial procession, 1 18. 
SCHUYLER, General. 

In command of the Northern army, -331. 

SCOTT. WINFIELO, 

At Lundv's Lane. 408 ; plans the invasion of 
Mexico, 450 : at Vera Cruz, 454 ; at Cerro Gor- 
do, 455 ; enters Mexico, 45T ; commander-in- 
chief of the Union army, 485. 

SEA-KING. THE. 
Character of, 53. 

SECESSION, 
Account of, 480, 485. 

SELISH.The, ^ ,^ ^ „ , 

Territorial position of. 44 and Uap I. 

SEMINOLES, The, 
War with, 418, 4:)1. 

SEVEN DAYS' BATTLES, THE, 
Account of, 504. 

SEWARD. WILLIAM H., ,,„,,„. 

Secretary of State, 484; diplomacy of 495; at- 
temptcdassassination of, 542; death of, 563. 

SEYMnnt. HuRATio, 
N.iti.e and deatli of, 678. 

SHERIDAN. PHILIP H.. . . 

In the Shenandoah Valley, 537: in pursuit of 
Lee. .539; in command of army. 671. 



SHERMAN, W. T.. 

At Chicliasaw Bayou. .500; campaign of fruui 
ChattanuDfra I" Ailania. .5-;j. .5;.'(> ; march to tlie 
sea, 537; from Savaniiali to Raleigh. 528-.'>3<i ; 
publishes Ills il(m"ii«. 674. 

SHIRLEY, SIR William, 

(iovernor of Massachusets, 264. 

SHOSHONES, THE. 

Territorial posltiou of. 44a)irt Map I. 

SIGEL. FRANZ. 

In Missouri, 493. 
SILVER, 

Remonetizatioii of, 6:36. 
SIOUX INDIANS, THE, 
War with, 639, 630. 
SIX NATIONS, THE, 
Treaty with, 181. 
SLAVERY, 

Introduction of, 110; exclusion of from Georgia, 
240 ; prohibition of in North-western Territory, 
359 ; a cause of the Civil War, 487 ; abolished 
by the Emancipation Proclamation, 511; Con- 
gressional abolition of, M4. 
SLIDELL. JOHN. 

Emba-ssador of the Confederacy, 494 ; capture 
of, 494 ; liberation of, 495, 
SLOUGHTER, William, 

Governor of New York, 177. 
SMITH, JOHN, ^ „„ 

Voyages of in New England, 87 ; captured, 88 ; 
troubles of at Jamestown, 96; explores the 
James, 96; sketch of, 97; captivity of, 99; ex- 
ploration of Chesapeake by, 103 ; president ol 
Virginia, 104; wounded, 105; returns to En- 
gland, 105. 
SMITHSON, JAMES.. 

Notice of, 460. 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, THE, 

Establishment of, 460. 
SMYTH. Alexander. 

In command on the Niagara frontier, 899. 
SONS OF LIBERTY, 

organization of. 292. 
SOTHEL, Seth. 

Career of in the Carolinas, 327, 233. 
SOUTH CAROLINA, 

Ciolonization of, 2.30 ; history of, 2:30-237. 
SOUTH DAKOTA, 

Admission of, 695. 
SPAIN. . ^. „„ 

Discovers and colonizes America. 54-b»; pos- 
sessions of iu 1665, see Map IV ; trealy witb, 
419. 
SPECIE CIRCULAR. The, 

Issued to Jackson, 437; repeal of, 441. 
SPRINGFIELD, 

Battle of, 493. 
SQUANTO, 

The Interpreter, 124. 
STAMP ACT, 

Passage of, 289 ; provisions of, 389 ; repeal of, 
392. 
STANDISH. Miles, 

General of New England, 1'33 ; mentioned, 135. 
STANTON, EDWIN M., . 

Secretary of War, 484 ; death of, obl. 
STAR ROUTE CONSPIRACY, THE, 

Account of, 753. 754. 
STATE RIGHTS. THE DOCTRINE OF, 

Advocated in South Carolina, 429 ; a cause of 
the Civil War, 486; as affecting the future, 642. 
ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Founding of. 68. 
ST. CLAIR. ARTHUR. , ., ,. 

At Ticonderoga. .331 ; governor of North-west- 
ern Territory, :359 ; expedition of, 366. 
STEAM-BOAT, THE, 
Invention of, 386. 
STEPHENS, ALEXANDER H.,.., _^ . . .,. 

Opposes secession, 480; Vice-President of the 
Confederacy, 481 : author of War Between the 
States. 674. 



780 



UISTOliT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



STONEMAN. General, 

Cavalry raids of, 519, 530. 
STONY POINT, 

Captured by Hiilisb, &34 ; retaken, 335. 
STUYVESANT, PETER, 

Administration of In New Netherland, 107-171 

SULLIVAN, GENERAL, 

Siege of Newport by, 332. 
SUMNER, Charles, 

Sketch and death of, 562. 
SUMPTKR, Thomas, 

Career ..f in the Carolinas, 341, 342, 350. 
SUPIiKME COURT, 

tiryanization of, 364, 682, 683. 
SWEDEN, 

Colonizes Delaware, 1&4. 



TALLEYRAND, M., 

Policy of rciiiectiDg America, 374. 

tamasese, 

Sanioan insurgent, 723. 
TARIFF. The, 

Question of, 428, 66.3-668, 684, 693. 
TAXATION, 

RiBbt of claimed by Great Britain, 287. 
TAYLOR, Zachary, 

Sent t'l occupy Texas, 447 ; at Buena Vlsta, 

54:? ; elected President, 462 ; sketch of, 463 : 

adiiiiiiisinition of, 46.3-465; death of, 465, 
TEA-1'AiiTV, The Boston, 

Is celeblated, 295. 
TEA-TAX, The, 

Enacted, 292. 
TECUMTHA, 

War with, 390 ; death of, 402. 
TELEGRAPH, The, 

Invention of, 446. 
TELEPHONE, THE, 

Invention of, 654-656, 
TENNESSEE, 

Colonization of, 293; admission of, 370. 
TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT, 

of the United States, .5.55 and Mtitj VII. 
TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 

Final form of, .546<ih(( Map VI. 
TEXAS, 

Early history of, 445 ; annexation of proposed, 

445; admission of into the Union, 447. 

THOMPSON, CHARLES, 

Mentioned, 103. 
TICONDEROGA, 

Expedition of Johnson against, 265 ; attack on 

by Abercrombie, 271 ; capture of by -Allen, 

299. 
TILDEN, SaMFEL J., 

Notice and death of, 679, 680. 
TIPPECANOE, 

Battle of. :J91. 
TOLERATION. 

A plea for, 643. 
TOMPKINS, D. D., 

Vice-President, 421, 476. 
TORONTO, 

Capture of, 404. 
TORPEDO, 

Invention of bv Fulton, 387. 
TREATY, 

Of Utrecht, 1.56; of Aix-la-Chapelle, 158: of 

Paris (1763), 279 ; of alliance with France, 329 ; 

definitive of 178;?, 3:>4 : .lav's. 369; of Ghent, 

414; with Nortb-westi-rn Indians, 417; of 

Washiugloni 18191,419; the Ufhster-Ashburton, 

442; of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 45s ; the Tripartite, 

468; of Washington (1872), 556. 
TRENT, The, 

Affair of, 494. 
TRENTON, 

Battle of, 316. 



TRIPOLI, 

Besieged by Preble, 381. 
TUSI'ARORAS, The, 

Migration of, 181. 
TYLER, John, 

Vice-President. 4:19 ; President, 441 ; sketch of, 

441 ; administration of, 441-447. 



UTAH, 

Colonization of, 446 ; rebellion in, 475. 
UTRECHT, 

Treaty of, 156. 



"V 

VALLEY FORGE. 

American army at. 327. 
Van BUREN, Martix. 

Elected I'resiiient. 4.36; sketch of, 4.36; admin- 

istratiiMi of. 4:iii-44(i. 
VANE, Sir Henry. 

In New England, i:W; governor of Ma.ssacl)H- 

setts, i:*l: defends liberty, 135; execution of, 

VERMONT, 

Admission of, 366. 
VERRAZZANI, JOHN. 

Voyage of, 70. 
VESPUC:CI, 

Voyages of, 56. 
VICKSBURG, 

Siege of, 512. 
VINLAND, 

Limits of, 52. 
VIRGINIA, 

Name of, 82; colonization of, 95; history of. 

95-123. 



"W 



WADSWORTH. William, 

Hides the charter, 191 ; baffles Fletcher, 191. 
WAITE, MiiRKIsoN Remii-H, 682. 
WALKER. SIR HoVENIiEN, 

Expedition of against Quebec, 155. 
WALKER, William, 

Expeditions of into Central America, 470, 471. 
WALLACE, LEWIS, 

At Romney, 491 ; in defense of Cincinnati, 499; 

on the Monocacy, 5:37. 
WALLOONS, THE, 

In America, 161. 
WAR, 

King Philip's, 139; King William's, 147; Queen 

.\nne's, 153; King George's. 1.57 ; Pequod, 183; 

French and Indian, 247 27:i ; Revolutionary, 

2«7-:i56; of 1812. :388-4I9; with Mexico, 447-458; 

the Civil, 482-540; the Sioux, 6'29; Nez Perce, 

6:i6. 
WARNER, William, 

('(■iiimander of G. A. R., 721. 

WARREN. COMMODORE. 

Ex[)eilitionof against Louisburg, 157. 
WARUKN. Joseph, 

Al Hunker Hill,:Ml. 
WASHINGTON, 

Admission of, 695. 
WASHINGTON. 

Treaty of, 556. 
WASHINGTON CITY, 

Founding of, .375; capture of by the British, 

410. 
WASHINGTON. AlTfiFSTINE, 

Mentioned, '250. 



INDEX. 



rsi 



WASHINGTON. GEORGE, 

Sent. l)v Dimvlilcllc to the French, 352; builds 
and (ii'fHntls F'ori NrrHssity, ■-^25 : campaign of 
with liiiuitlnck. -riS-'JOl; made^eneral-in-ehief, 
302 ; slietuh of, .WS; negotiations of with Howe, 
310; saves the army at Long Island, 312; retreat 
of across New Jersey, 314 ; at Trenton. 31ti ; 
at Princeton, 317; at Brandywine, 334; sorrows 
of, 327: at Monmouth, 331 ; at Yorktuwii. 3.M; 
favors Union, 358: chosen President, 3fl2; ad- 
ministration of, 3B.3-371 ; tour of, 3(U ; wrath 
of, :J67: re-elected, 3IJT ; Farewell Address of, 
371 and Aiipfiiilij- (i ; re-appoiriled I'oni- 
inander-in-ctiief, 373; death of, 37-'>: centen- 
nial i>f inaiii^nration of, 697-71H: appearance 
of, 70M ; non-paitisan Character of, 709, 

WASHINGTON, .lolIN, 
Mentioned, 119. 

WASP, The, 
AfTair of, ;»7. 

WAYMOUTH, George, 
Voyage of, 85. 

WAYNE, ANTHONY, 

At Stony Point, $J5 : expedition of against the 
Indians, 3119 ; death of, 3tj9. 

WEBSTKIt, Daniel, 

Debate i>f witli Hayne, 429 ; concludes the Ash- 
Imrton treaty, 442. 

WESLEY, Chaki.e.s, 

Methodist and poet, 241. 

WESLEY, JOHN, 
In (ieorgia, 240. 

WEYMOUTH, 

Founding of, 125. 

WHIG PARTY, THE, 

Notice of. 428; iu power, 439, 440; again 
triumphant, 462. 

WHISKY INSURRECTION, THE, 
Account of, 368. 

WHITE, JOHN, 

Governor of Raleigh, 83. 

WHITEFIELD. GEORGE, 
Iu Georgia, 241. 

WHITNEY, ELI, 

Inventor of the Cotton Gin, 487. 

WHITTIER, John G., 

Centennial poem of, 715-717. 

WILDERNESS, THE, 
Battles in, .5:J5. 

WILKINSON, GENERAL, 

Commander-in-Chief of the American army, 
404. 
WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, 
Founding of, 122. 



WILLIAMS FAMILY, THE, 

Story of, 154. 
WILLIAMS, ROGER, 

Minister of Salem, 128; banishment of, 12H; 

founder ot Providence, 129 ; sketch of, 193. 
WILMOT PROVISO. THE, 

Account of, 462. 
WILSON, Henry, 

Vi«-.e-Preslilent. 558 ; death of, 562. 
WINGFIELD. EDWARD, 

President of Virginia, 96. 
WINCilNA, 

Murder of, 82. 
WINTHROP, JOHN. 

Governor of Massachusetts, 127. 
WINTHROP, THE Y'OUNGER, 

Votes against persecution, 136; leader of the 

Connecticut colony, 184. 
WISCONSIN, 

Admission of, 461. 
WITCHCRAFT, THE SALEM, 

Story of, 150-1.5:1. 

WOLFE, JAMES, 

Expedition of against Quebec, 27-3-276; death 
of, 276, 
WOOL, GENERAL, 

Musters forces tor Mexican War, 451. 
WORLD'S FAIR, THE, 

Account of, 470. 
WYATT, SIR Francis, 

Governor of Virginia, 112. 
WYOMING, 

Msssacre of, ■3.33. 



YALE COLLEGE, 

Founding of, 192. 
YAMASSEES, THE, 

War with. 236. 
YEAMANS, SIR JOHN, 

Governor of Carolina, 225. 
YEARDLY, SIR GEORGE, 

Governor of Virginia, 110. 
YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC, 

Story of, 6:37. 
YORKTOWN, 

Siege of, 3.53. 
YUSEF, THE Emperor, 

Is brought to his senses, 381. 



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